Daryl McMahon insists Ebbsfleet can play without pressure as they bid to break into the National League play-offs.

Fleet sit 10th ahead of Saturday’s home game against struggling Chester, four points off seventh with a game in hand over several of the teams above them.

They have 19 games left and in such an open division, it’s all to play for.

McMahon said: “We’ve put ourselves in a position where the play-offs, on paper, are attainable if we can keep people fit. We’ve got something to fight for.

“If we’ve got the numbers to really do it, I’m not sure but we’ll give it a good go.

“We’ve got no pressure on us. We’ve got a good group, we’re new to the division and can go and enjoy it and stick our teeth into games and show everyone how good we are.

“That’s the important thing for us – we can do it with a bit of freedom.

“Clubs like Dagenham, Leyton Orient and Tranmere are expected to be fighting for promotion whereas we can just keep working hard and see where we get.”

Ebbsfleet looked leggy at times during the 1-1 draw with Dagenham on Saturday and their 4-2 defeat at Bromley on New Year’s Day and McMahon confirmed he was still active in the transfer market.

He said: “If the right one’s out there (I’d like to make a signing) but at the moment we’re drawing a blank in bringing people in.

“I want someone that makes us better, whether it’s a loan or a free agent, someone that can improve the group, which is hard to do for everyone – especially at this time of year – because everyone’s fighting for something.”

Ebbsfleet haven’t lost a league game at home since October while Chester are eight points from safety.

But McMahon said: “They’re all tough games. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, especially in this period when you’ve got so many games close together. It’s important that we learn from what happened at Bromley. You can’t just forget about it because lots of poor things happened.

“Chester are fighting for their lives and they’ll probably be thinking ‘I quite fancy going there on Saturday’. We have to bounce back and look to get three points.”

Jack Payne (knee) could return after a three-month lay-off, although if he does it’s likely to be as a substitute.