Maidenhead United 1 Ebbsfleet United 3: Reaction from Ebbsfleet manager Kevin Watson

By: Matthew Panting mpanting@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 07:45, 26 February 2020

Updated: 15:16, 26 February 2020

Ebbsfleet United manager Kevin Watson has told his boo boys to give credit when it’s due.

The Fleet boss came under fire after last weekend’s second-half demolition by fellow strugglers Chesterfield.

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But his squad bounced straight back at Maidenhead on Tuesday night by grabbing all three points in convincing style.

“People that want to have a pop can have a pop when we lose but I hope they give us credit when we win,” said Watson.

“I hear if you’re going down then go down with some fight. That’s easy to say after a game like Saturday.

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“People that are here will know that these boys are trying their absolute socks off to try and keep us in the division. We are working as staff our socks off to keep us in the division.

“You can never please everybody all of the time but once again our support was great and I look forward to Saturday (against Stockport).

“We still have the record of not losing two on the trot which will hopefully stand us in good stead.

“We took a lot of stick – I took a lot of stick – on Saturday but there’s only one way to respond to that, and that’s to come out and perform in the next game.”

Ebbsfleet lost keeper David Gregory to injury when Maidenhead scored their goal in the first 10 minutes.

It looked like Gregory has been fouled but his back went into spasm and there was no way he could have continued.

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It means former first-choice keeper Jordan Holmes was called into action – and he never let his team-mates down.

“David won’t be ready for Saturday – that’s for certain,” said Watson. “His back went into spasm, he ran into two players – I think one of ours and one of theirs – but that’s the way our luck’s going at the moment.

“Jordan came in and was outstanding in his decision-making and his kicking, he’s made a couple of very good saves and his talking was very good.

“Jordan has been patient, he’s waited his turn, trained brilliantly and you have to when you’re not in the team – whether you are an outfield player or a goalkeeper.

“You’ve got to train like that because when you come in you’ve got to be called upon. It’s a great attitude from him.

“We only had four defenders available because of injuries to Marvel Ekpiteta and Ayo Obileye. I chose to change the shape to be attacking because we need to win games, draws are no good to us now.

"The boys have delivered so we’re very pleased.”