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Ebbsfleet manager Dennis Kutrieb dismissed the suggestion that his side showed Dorking Wanderers too much respect on Saturday.
The Fleet were dominated for long spells by an impressive Dorking outfit, who were only held to a 1-1 draw by the brilliance of home keeper Louie Moulden in National League South.
Kutrieb felt his side were good in the first half but struggled after the break until a late rally nearly produced an unexpected Ebbsfleet winner.
“I was pretty happy with them in the first half, I thought in some spells we were a little bit exposed and that’s the reason why we changed a little bit in the second half,” said Kutrieb.
“Maybe then we thought we needed to stay deeper and defend deeper. But we’re a team on the front foot, we need to attack, press and win balls in the opponents’ half and go forward straight away.
“If we get the winner late in the game when we had the two chances, and for me it was clear and obvious that we would get chances, if you take them and get a winner then no-one asks about respect or we could have done better.
“We suffered in this game, and it was clear that we’d suffer in some situations as they are a strong side, they are second in the league and for a long time they were first.
“Of course, they have the quality and they are good, but I think over the 90 minutes we did well.
“We had a spell in the second half when I was not happy but first half I was fine, if Shaq hits the target then we would have led 2-1 at half-time and everything would have been different.
“At the end of the day, we take the point and keep on going from here.”
The Fleet spent plenty of time after the break being pushed back in their own half.
They also sat deeper as a team, and Kutrieb felt it wasn’t until late on that his side enjoyed more success.
“You could see, they played well and made good runs so we needed to defend together as a team,” added the Fleet boss.
“Sometimes maybe your energy is a bit missing when you need to do so many runs and track back in the other direction.
“After 75 minutes we had a spell and because we’re a fit team, we know that we are aware of it, and put pressure on the opponent.
“It was just the 30 minutes at the start of the second half when I wasn’t happy as they had too much of the ball. But after 75 minutes, we were the better side then. If we get the chance to score, normally you need to take it, collect the three points and go home.”
Kutrieb was certainly left with mixed emotions from a game that he knew his team needed to win.
“I would say it was a great game of football from both sides,” he said.
“I think everyone who was here could see an intense game, high quality, good passing from both sides. If I’m honest I’m a little bit disappointed because I really want to win the game.
“I think that last spell of the game we had two really good chances to get the lead late in the game, unfortunately it didn’t happen.
“When your goalkeeper is man-of-the-match it means (he made) some great saves, he was really good for us and he kept us in the game.
“I’m not stupid, we take the draw, maybe a fair reflection of the game.”