I think the fixture list is a little bit cruel, says Ebbsfleet United boss Steve Brown

EBBSFLEET UNITED manager Steve Brown has criticised the league for forcing his players to play twice in 48 hours.

The Fleet became the first side to take points off Skrill South leaders Bromley at Hayes Lane this season when they played out a goal-less draw on Boxing Day.

Ebbsfleet United play host to Dover Athletic on Saturday, before welcoming Bromley to Stonebridge Road on New Year’s Day.

Third-placed Ebbsfleet United remain thirteen points adrift of Bromley and welcome a Dover Athletic side that moved into eleventh-place in the table following their 3-1 home win over struggling Tonbridge Angels, who slip back into the bottom three.

“If I’m honest, I thought the way the fixture list panned out with Sutton, Bromley, Dover, Bromley, it’s extremely difficult for us,” said Brown.

“It’s a real tough four games but that’s what we’ve got ahead of us.  We’ve picked up four points out of the first two. If we can get pick up another four points out of those next two and I’ll be relatively happy.

“I’ll be going into the New Year looking at the fixture list thinking there’s some really winnable games for us to the end of the season. I do expect us to be in and around.”

Brown feels strongly that his players should be given more time to recover between two hard Kent derbies against Bromley and Dover Athletic.

“We’ve got another tough one on Saturday. I think the fixture list is a little bit cruel if I’m honest,” said Brown.

“I don’t see the need for this Saturday game. I suppose it’s all about getting people through the turnstiles when they’re off work but for me turning seventeen players around and shuffling them back on the pitch is extremely difficult to do.

“I honestly believe the quality of the games on Saturday will diminish when you’re asking players to run around when they’ve not recovered properly.”

And when asked what he’s expecting against Chris Kinnear’s side tomorrow, Brown said: “They’ve beaten Tonbridge at home. Their fixture list is much easier than ours. They’ve got Tonbridge, us, Tonbridge and last week they had Staines, which is quite a tough game but they’re in a position where they had to win yesterday in my opinion.

“We’ll make life as difficult as we can for them when they come to Stonebridge Road, but it’s another tough game just in the nature that they play 4-5-1 and (pump) long balls and direct balls into your box and they try to create something out of pressure as appose to creating things.”

Brown, who was Nicky Forster’s number two at Crabble, added: “We know what we’re up against and we have to make sure we’re diligent as we have been in the last two games. That’s back-to-back clean sheets for us, which is pleasing against two top sides, Sutton were in fourth and Bromley are top so we go into that game relatively positive in terms of not conceding many opportunities, but we do know the way that Dover play they will have chances on the back of direct play and knock downs and so on and so forth so we’ll have to do our job as well as we have done over the last two games to secure a clean sheet against Dover.”

The Fleet then face Bromley for a third time this season at Stonebridge Road on New Year’s Day.

The Fleet defeated Bromley 4-1 in The FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round at the venue on 16 November.

“They’ve got to come to us in a few days and we’ll see what happens in regards to that fixture,” said Brown.

“It’s a tough run of fixtures. All we can do is try and prepare the players right and make sure the recovery is good wheel them back out and hopefully you’ve got the tactics right. Hopefully you’ve got the messages across that you want to put across and hopefully they can deliver what you need in terms of performance to get you three points.”

Visit Ebbsfleet United’s website: www.ebbsfleetunited.co.uk

Ebbsfleet United  v  Dover Athletic
Skrill South
Saturday 28^th December 2013
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Stonebridge Road, Northfleet, Kent DA11 9GN