Ebbsfleet boss Kevin Watson has told his players to ignore the league table.

Fleet remain stuck in the National League relegation zone after picking up just one points from two games over the festive period so far.

They lost 1-0 at home to Dover on Saturday, lacking that extra touch of quality in front of goal to force home an equaliser.

“I don’t want them looking at league tables now,” said Watson. “I don’t want them thinking and dwelling on this result, we’ve lost but we’ve got to take that performance into the next game.

“The support was outstanding. You know when you’ve done well and you know when you’ve done bad. To lose a local derby 1-0, you could get booed off but they got clapped off.

“Everyone is disappointed, I’m extremely disappointed, those players are extremely disappointed, but our support, as usual, stuck with us and they would have let the players know if it was an abject performance.”

Watson felt Ebbsfleet were the better side and while they did have more attempts at goal than the visitors, they were unable to find a way beyond Dover keeper Yusuf Mersin.

“I know there will be people that won’t agree because we’ve lost but for me we played excellently, especially after the first 15-20 minutes,” added the Fleet boss.

“Dover had two shots, one of them went in. In the second half we passed it well and created chance after chance. The only thing I can be critical about was the shooting and the crossing.

“It was arguably as good as we’ve played but we know football is a funny game. We’re all extremely disappointed because we’ve played worse and won games.

“In my opinion, and I know everyone has their opinions in football and that’s what makes it the game it is, it was one-way traffic. They’ve had one effort on the break in the second half.

“It’s our own fault for getting into those positions and not being ruthless enough. It’s the first game we’ve not scored in since I’ve been here. I fully expected us in the second half to score but it wasn’t to be.”

Fleet included Ayo Obileye in their starting line-up to help combat the threat of Whites striker Inih Effiong.

Watson was pleased with Obileye’s contribution but admitted his team started the game slowly.

“We did start slow but for the other 75 minutes I thought we were by far the better team,” said Watson.

“I changed the formation to get Ayo into midfield just to protect us because Effiong is so good with the ball into his chest.

“I thought Ayo did really well, he should have scored at the end but then three or four should have scored as well when they were in good positions.

“It’s a blow and bragging rights go down to the coast but I like what I saw in the way we played, we just need to turn that into a positive result.”

• Match report: Ebbsfleet 0 Dover 1

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