Ebbsfleet United manager Dennis Kutrieb reacts to 1-0 National League South play-off semi-final win over Chippenham Town

Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb was confident his side would make the advantage of finishing third count in their favour against Chippenham.

The Fleet grabbed third spot in the final week of the National League season which meant they could watch on while Chippenham battled for 120 minutes at Dartford in Thursday's eliminator.

With less than 72 hours for the visitors to recover, Kutrieb knew his team were in the boxseat - assuming they didn't make any silly mistakes in Sunday's semi-final clash at Stonebridge Road.

"I think it was a deserved win in the end but it was a hard win and battle," said Kutrieb,

"That was what we prepared the boys for when we knew it was Chippenham. I was there (at Dartford) on Thursday and could see how much desire this team has and how much heart they have, how hard they fight for a result. They were well organised and we knew it would be exactly the same game.

"My hope was maybe we could score an early goal and that opens the game up, unfortunately we had two goals disallowed and maybe there was a penalty. But then when the second half starts and you don’t score, you need to make sure you stay composed and stay in the game and don’t concede a stupid goal.

"I knew, of course, we are a full-time side and they played on Thursday for 120 minutes so we will get chances to finish the game off. The boys were very calm and at the end well done to Lee Martin to put it in the back of the net, finally.

"Deep in my heart, I thought even if we had to go to extra-time it was just an advantage for us. We are fit, you can see that, and they played 120 minutes on Thursday. It’s obvious, we don’t need to talk about it, if there was an advantage for us or not it was a massive advantage.

"You have to make sure