Ebbsfleet United manager Dennis Kutrieb reacts to 1-1 draw with Barnet in the National League

Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb insisted his team’s defence-first approach against Barnet does not go against his forward-thinking outlook.

The Fleet are renowned for their open, expansive football but they showed another side to their game to hold third-placed Barnet to a draw in the National League at Stonebridge Road on Saturday.

It wasn’t enough to move Kutrieb’s men out of the bottom four but it’s a big step in the right direction and proof that they can compete at this level.

“That’s what we need, exactly that,” stated Kutrieb. “We know we can play brilliant football, we know we can pass the ball around but it’s not needed at the moment. We need to make sure we get the ingredients we need and it was good today.

“It’s not going against anything because it’s the basic that you need and then on top of it you can start to play football. If you need to focus on something because you can’t do both then you need to focus on them things.

“That’s what the boys have started to understand, definitely today, as we knew it was hard work, especially off the ball. The strikers up top were working so relentlessly and hard so the backline had not so much to do as everyone else in front of them was working so hard. They haven’t had that many chances so it was a good display from us.

“My gut feeling is they will take confidence from that because they can see that if we put the right efforts in then we have a chance to win or get a result. From this point of view I’m pretty sure they will have confidence.”

Kutrieb was left disappointed that his team didn’t get all three points, given the quality of chances they created.

The Fleet boss added: “I’m proud of them, the defensive display was very good, and if we are ruthless then we are 2-0