Ebbsfleet manager Liam Daish can’t wait to get the Blue Square Premier season under way on Saturday.

After a summer of rebuilding and speculation about his own future, Daish is relieved to be getting down to business.

He said: "I’m really looking forward to it. It’s been the toughest pre-season I can remember.

"The recruitment and speaking to players and telling them that they are not for us has been a hard thing for me to do. Hopefully we’ll have the squad in place this week and we can get down to the real stuff."

Daish completed the signings of Dean Pooley and Gavin Heeroo last week and is expected to sign a further four players before the season opener at Altrincham this weekend, including a possible surprise swoop for former Fleet defender Leon Crooks.

Keeping their full-time status has been key to Daish bringing together a squad he believes can compete in the top flight of non-league football.

"There’s no doubt that part-time clubs have bigger budgets than us but the one thing is that young players want to invest in us and then push on to hopefully play at a higher level," he said.

As for reading too much into results from the Altrincham match and then the home clash with Cambridge on Tuesday, Daish insisted that he will not get carried away whatever the outcome.

"History tells us that the first couple of weeks always throws up some strange results," he added.

"If you can get that win then great and if you don’t, then don’t fret about it but also don’t get too carried away if you do get the three points."