Ebbsfleet’s squad can expect to be put their paces on the training ground this week.

Caretaker boss Kevin Watson has highlighted fitness as one key area that the squad can improve on.

Watson only replaced Ian Hendon on the Ebbsfleet coaching staff a fortnight ago but he now finds himself at the helm after Garry Hill was sacked.

“I think they need to be fitter,” said Watson. “I really do think that, so we’ll be working on it.

“I think that’s been glaringly obvious when you get to the latter stages in games, we need to be a little bit fitter.

“There’s a horrible side to the game (but even) to play it the way I want to play, by getting the ball, pass it and movement, even when you have the ball you need to be fit.”

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Watson will also work on defending set-pieces, frustrated at the way Maidenhead were gifted three points at Stonebridge Road on Saturday.

A free header inside the six-yard box from a corner saw his first game in charge end in defeat – and Watson vowed to work all day, every day, in a bid to eradicate the problem.

“I made no bones about it,” said Watson. “If you’re going to mark like that, you’re going to keep finding yourselves down there (in the table).

“You can dominate games as much as you like but if you concede like that – individual marking – you are going to remain down the bottom, it doesn’t matter who is in charge.

“We’ve had a little inquest about that to be fair.

“I will get the boys to take corners and we’ll defend them all day if we have to in training. We’ll go to the training ground and say ‘head that away, ‘stay with players’, ‘stay with runners’.

“You can’t legislate for that, the only way you get better at it is to keep doing it and if we have to do it all day, we’ll do it all day.

“You can’t boss football matches the way we have and lose the game - it’s just not on.”

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