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Ebbsfleet United boss Steve Brown confident his side will get a positive result against St Albans City

Steve Brown Picture: Andy Payton
Steve Brown Picture: Andy Payton

Ebbsfleet boss Steve Brown is confident his side will end their run of poor results against St Albans on Saturday.

With no wins - and no goals - in their last three games, the Fleet have slipped off the pace in Vanarama Conference South. They're seven points behind leaders Eastbourne Borough with a game in hand.

Supporters are getting impatient but Brown is staying positive.

He said: "I feel confident going into every game and there’s no reason we shouldn’t win on Saturday. St Albans are riding the crest of a wave (following their promotion) but they’re coming up against a very competitive side. We’ve got three clean sheets, two wins and a draw at home.

"They’re a bit hit-and-miss. They’ve won three and lost three. We’ve not conceded a goal at home, we’ve won two and drawn one, and I go into the game with bags of confidence in terms of looking to maintain that.

"The clean sheet record is really becoming something (one goal conceded at home since February 1). If we don’t concede, we’ve got every chance of winning the game – and we don’t concede goals at home. If you look at our record, it’s extremely good and we want to extend that record. We are focused on shutting St Albans out."

Ebbsfleet lost 1-0 at Basingstoke last Saturday. That followed a 0-0 draw at home to Wealdstone and another 1-0 defeat on the road, against Whitehawk.

Alex Osborn has a shot blocked in Ebbsfleet's goalless draw with Wealdstone Picture: Steve Crispe
Alex Osborn has a shot blocked in Ebbsfleet's goalless draw with Wealdstone Picture: Steve Crispe

Brown said: "Everybody loses a little bit of confidence when you lose 1-0. Confidence is a tool that can’t be measured and it’s not something you can give somebody. It comes with performances and results. I don’t think people understand the power of confidence.

"When you have strikers who have only got one goal or no goals, the longer that goes on, the more they need to hear from me that I believe in them – and I do."

Form and injuries mean that Ebbsfleet's team has changed constantly in the early weeks of the season.

Brown said: "I still think there’s a bit of jostling going on. When you bring new players in, you’re finding out about them and they’re settling into the team. I don’t think we settled down until about 10 games into last season. I’d be disappointed if we only had nine points after nine games this year (like in 2013-14) but we’re only one win away from beating that.

"If you’re winning every game, there are not a lot of changes, but when results are indifferent, you end up making changes. There’s still jostling and there are still places to be fought for.

"When squads are stretched, that’s when stronger squads come to the forefront."

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