Ebbsfleet’s Positive Attitude
31.08.2021
Dennis Kutrieb will quickly shift attention to another huge game this coming Saturday with Havant & Waterlooville, insisting after the goalless draw at Chelmsford that his side don’t have time to let that game affect them or assess it too deeply.
“It’s gone, we don’t have time to let it under our skins because Saturday’s waiting and it’s a tough game,” Kutrieb told BBC Radio Kent’s Charles Webster. “I think we need to win this game, or should have won this game, we had enough chances but were not clinical enough today. But that’s football… sometimes when you don’t get the ball over the line, you don’t win the game. We didn’t concede, we were rock solid at the back – they had that one chance in the 90th minute I think for the whole game. We had at least, I don’t know, five with the penalty one more.
“The only big problem after today is the injury to Christian, we don’t know at the moment how bad it is but it didn’t look good and that’s the biggest blow at the moment for me. I didn’t see exactly [how he did it].”
Another injury talking-point was the late replacement of Adam Mekki with Lee Martin after the teams were announced and the Fleet boss revealed he didn’t want to risk his winger after he felt a twinge in the warm-up.
“He had a small injury and we need to manage it,” said Kutrieb. “We were not sure [before kick-off] and we wanted to try it but he felt it a little bit so we said straight away, it’s not for today. We brought Marts on because he was ready. Normally I’d want to give him a little bit less time so he needed to go 90 minutes again but he’s fit and nothing to worry about.”
There were plenty of talking points late in the game, with Craig Tanner’s goalbound shot that Fleet thought was over the line, the manager’s dismissal by referee Callum Walchester and then the penalty.
“We tried to stay calm, the referee had not his best day,” said the Fleet boss. “We tried to be cool, me included, but I think we need to improve there. We need to stay cool over the 90 minutes and wait for the one moment and then finish the game off. We were not clinical enough and that’s the only issue I can tell the boys. It was such a big shift, everyone was fighting and I’m proud of the boys but it was a little bit unlucky that we didn’t get the winner.
“I think it was a handball [for the penalty] but anyway there should have been one or two other penalties. I didn’t see it exactly because I was on the way out! They defended all together on the line and there were two goalline clearances, one clear goal and I can’t understand how the referee and even the linesman can’t see it from Craig Tanner.”
Source: Ed Miller and Ebbsfleet United FC
