Ebbsfleet United manager Josh Wright keen to use Kent Senior Cup defeat as a positive ahead of National League South trip to Maidstone United

Ebbsfleet manager Josh Wright reckons they can use last week’s cup exit to their advantage when they visit Maidstone this evening.

A much-changed Fleet side lost 4-0 in the semi-finals of the Kent Senior Cup last Tuesday and the teams meet again at the Gallagher in National League South tonight (Tuesday).

Both sides will be back to full strength in an eagerly-anticipated derby which could see the Stones close the gap on their rivals in the race for a place in the top seven.

Asked if his side can learn anything from the cup loss, Wright responded: “I don't think it's a learn, I made all those changes and it's hard to keep boys’ mindset because they know it's the Kent Cup, they know it's not the league.

“They know all the big games we've got coming up but we can't let our standards drop, it just proves to you no matter what team goes out, where we play, who we play against, what competition it is, you cannot come off the standards, the basics, competing and there were little things that went against us on the night.

“But we hold our hands up that the team wasn't good enough on the night, we weren't good enough on the night but we have to use it to our advantage.

“Going into the game on Saturday (against Dagenham), it made us even more hungry and the way life works we’re going back there on Tuesday night so quickly.

“We need to use that to fuel us up and be chomping at the bit and ready to go there and not so much rectify Tuesday but hopefully, like on Saturday we did the double over Dagenham.

“That’s three sides we’ve done the double over and hopefully we can do the double over Maidstone in the league on Tuesday night but we'll have to be right at it to do that.

“We'll go there with a game plan, we'll go there with our