Ebbsfleet United manager Dennis Kutrieb says squad are acclimatising to the stresses and strains playing in the National League brings

Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb believes his side are showing signs of getting used to the intensity of National League football.

As the Fleet expected, there’s been a marked improvement in the quality of opposition.

Ebbsfleet have already faced different challenges but they sit ninth after 10 games having made a solid start to the season, picking up a point at Woking on Tuesday night having lost narrowly at home to title favourites Chesterfield last Saturday.

“You could see the intensity at Woking and on Saturday against Chesterfield from the opponent - they don’t stop running,” said Kutrieb.

“We had a really fit squad and we could put more on Woking after 60 minutes. That’s what you need to do week in, week out - match the intensity and be able to put something on in the last 30 minutes of games. We need to make sure that we’re on top of that.

“Every team in this league has an idea and a clue, it’s not just playing off the cuff. They want to do things different so we have to be ready for every single challenge. It’s not so much we do what we want to do.

“You saw that we could rarely play on the floor at Woking so we needed to match it up and find a way to still be on our opponent. We were much better at that in the second half and this is a prime example.

“Last season we wouldn’t find a way to come out there, it would just be a challenge we weren’t up for. But now we need to adapt to what the opponent is offering, whether they play on the ball or kick it long, when they have high intensity or whatever it is.

“It’s different on a weekly basis so you need to be up for it.”

The majority of teams have pressed high against Ebbsfleet and while Chesterfield dominated their clash last weekend, the Fleet boss felt there were