Ebbsfleet boss Daryl McMahon praised striker Bradley Bubb after he scored the winner against Dartford on New Year’s Day.

Bubb netted the only goal of the game to hand the Fleet three points and avenge their Boxing Day defeat at Princes Park.

The goal saved Bubb’s blushes after he missed a similar simple chance in front of goal early in the first half.

“He should have scored (before) obviously but he kept his confidence and got in the area again to score, from the same position,” said McMahon.

“That’s what all good strikers do, they don’t go missing, they don’t hide. He gets in the areas to score goals, he went there again and got his reward.”

McMahon was impressed with his team’s defending and admitted it was key that they bounced back from the defeat at Dartford.

The three points took the Fleet second in National League South, although they still trail Maidenhead by 10 points.

“It was very important,” said McMahon. “We weren’t as good as we should have been.

“In the end I thought two mistakes on our part cost us the game (on Boxing Day) rather than anything Dartford did to us. We owed a performance and defensively Winfield, Clark and Phillips were terrific.

“It was a bit of a scrappy game. We defended well, I thought we were excellent second half in that sense. We could have done better with the ball around their box.

“It was a good performance. It was a typical, proper derby, probably not a great spectacle but rain, slide tackles and yellow cards and we did what we had to do.”