Luke Coulson is determined to make the No.10 position at Ebbsfleet his own.

The 23-year-old looks at home playing behind centre-forward Danny Kedwell after being moved inside from the wing.

With striker Darren McQueen set to miss most of the season with a knee injury, Fleet boss Daryl McMahon has tried several different attacking options and using Coulson in the hole looks as good a plan as any.

He set up one goal against Leyton Orient on Saturday night and always carried a threat on the counter-attack as Fleet put on a fine team performance to win 2-1.

Coulson said: "I feel like I’m going from step to step with that position, playing behind Kedwell.

"I joked with him before the game that I was bigging him up in my last interview and I think we work really well together.

"I feel like I can go wherever the game needs and I can do a lot of different aspects of the game, which I feel I can do. The gaffer’s released me a little bit and hopefully I can cement that position going forward and people will see me as a No.10 for the club.

"We’ve been working heavily on our shape and breaking from that shape. With the pace of Weston and Cook down the sides, we’re always going to cause problems and with Kedwell in the box, everyone knows what he can do."

Coulson, a summer signing from Barnet, burst onto the scene with two assists on his Fleet debut and a goal in the 2-0 derby win over Maidstone three days later.

But it hasn't been plain sailing for the former Eastleigh man.

Coulson said: "It was a bit weird at times. We went on a tough run of games and had to come through that. There were a lot of draws and I changed my position a lot, from right wing-back to right wing to left wing.

"I was taken off at half-time a few times because the gaffer needed to change things up."

McMahon, though, always makes a point of explaining his selection decisions.

"You have that honesty and trust," Coulson said. "You know that what he’s said and you can reflect on it. You know he’s not telling other people different things and it’s not a lie.

"Whatever he’s told you, you can work on it and try to prove him wrong in a sense because you want to get back in the team.

"The gaffer’s absolutely excellent," added Coulson, who feels he's improving as a player with Fleet.

"There’s a lot of individual training as well as unit training. He’s always pulling me to the side and telling me what I can work on, which I need.

"We work on things as a team but he’ll talk to you in your ear and tell you what he thinks, as training’s going on. You need that. You want a manager that’s going to be in your ear throughout the training session."

McMahon felt Coulson had his best game for the club against Orient, describing the midfielder as "outstanding" and saying he should have been man-of-the-match.

Coulson said: "I appreciate the gaffer’s comments but I’ve got to keep moving forward with it.

"I think we can go and get promotion. That’s what the club wants and that’s what the fans want as well.

"We’ve gone toe-to-toe with most of the good teams in this league and the games we’ve lost, against Macclesfield and Aldershot, I still think we played well in those games and they were narrow defeats. We haven’t lost 4-0 anywhere, we’ve always been in the game and I think we’ve got a great chance going forward."