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Ebbsfleet can win the National League South title when they visit Taunton this Saturday if they better Dartford’s result at home to Dulwich.
A Fleet win will put them in a virtually unassailable position due to their far superior goal difference but manager Dennis Kutrieb insisted they won’t be celebrating until they are out of reach.
“If Dartford win on Saturday, we can’t win it on Saturday as simple as that,” stated the Fleet boss. “We’re getting closer, as I said last Saturday, and after the loss for Dartford [last weekend].
“No one really believes me when I say we need to go and do our bit as Dartford are just not good enough to win all of their games, as simple as that, as you could see against Chelmsford.
“Maybe they win their last games but you can see they are losing their heads, and as you put in the paper, they are abusing other teams and all these things.
“As soon as you are speaking about other teams instead of your own team, you’re normally in big trouble as you are losing your focus and that’s just what I see from outside. But I’m more than happy as it’s not about them, it’s not about someone else, it’s about us and we need to make sure we tick our games off and get our points and then we will be fine.
“We have still two wins left on our own schedule. That said we want to have five wins, we have three now so there’s two left. On paper, obviously, we don’t need two more, we just need four points, but it’s a bit awkward because we can’t rely on Dartford to win their games anymore.
“It could be done on Saturday, Good Friday, next Monday, the week after that - anything can happen at any single game.”
Taunton have played every midweek since late January as they catch up on a fixture backlog caused by cup runs and bad weather.
Kutrieb watched their 1-0 victory at Welling last week and was impressed by the way Taunton went about their business.
“I saw them against Welling and you could see Welling were going mad, losing their heads and trying to fight with their fans and all these things,” said Kutrieb. “That’s funny and for me as an outsider to be there in the stadium and to watch it, it’s embarrassing to see but if you think you need to fight with your own fans then just go for it as it’s not my problem.
“You could see Taunton was just focused on the game, it was amazing to see how focused and relaxed they were. They were not going for the referee, even with some awkward decisions for them as well, they were just focused on their own game and didn’t get affected from all the surroundings from Welling’s side.
“Even for clear decisions that were not offside, Welling tried to go for the referee and abuse the referee and the linesman for clear, right decisions.
“You can get carried away as an opponent but they didn’t and this is just what they are doing. They are not getting carried away even if they have to play Saturday-Tuesday.
“I don’t feel sorry for them as they know exactly what they have to do and that’s why they won the game at Welling, even though it was a close win with a penalty. They got a win at Braintree (last Saturday), who hadn’t lost at home all season, so they have some qualities.
“Yes, they haven’t won for a long time at home but you should not forget that before this they had not lost at home for two years. When you play all the time away and away, they’ve had three away games in a row, you always like to be back at home and play at home again. So, this will be a tough, tough challenge for us - 100 per cent.”
