Returning Ebbsfleet United defender Joe Martin says side will have to fight their way to the points they need to climb to safety in National League

Defender Joe Martin insists everyone has to be accountable for Ebbsfleet’s position in the National League table.

Martin marked his return to action after a lengthy lay-off by helping the Fleet hold promotion-chasing Barnet to a 1-1 draw last weekend.

However, the Fleet still remain in the relegation zone and face a tough run of festive fixtures, including a double-header with Bromley.

“There’s a few boys who have been through situations like this, or worse, before,” said Martin.

“Some people are talkers, some try to do it by example. You can talk about all that stuff but at the end of the day everyone’s got to be accountable, whether you’re a young boy or old boy. If you go onto the pitch, you have to perform.

“It’s different to last year, you’re playing against teams who are playing the percentages and are difficult to play against. The situation that we’re in now, we’re going to have to fight our way out of it and find our feet again.

“Once we get past this period that we’re in then we can start thinking about looking up the table, but at the minute we have to graft for our points and get ourselves out of it.

“From what I’ve watched, any time there could be a goal it’s gone in against us. If you know that’s going to be the case, you just have to accept it and make sure you don’t go under.

“We have to fight for everything we get. There has been some easy goals and some performances where we haven’t played as well as we can but we’re going to have to graft it out.”

Martin was pleased to contribute, his experience will be crucial in the weeks ahead for an Ebbsfleet side that have gone 22 games in all competitions without a clean sheet.

He got through 90 minutes without any issues and looks set to keep his place for this