By Luke Cawdell

Ebbsfleet boss Liam Daish has welcomed their FA Trophy first round trip to old-foes Stevenage on Saturday as a chance to get back to winning ways.

Fleet have shown signs of life in Blue Square Premier over the past few weeks and their improved performances were rewarded with 2-1 wins against promotion-chasing Mansfield and Stevenage.

However, despite scoring twice at runaway leaders Oxford, Daish’s overriding emotion was frustration with the way Fleet defended. He said: "I was a bit deflated and felt a bit cheated in a way. I’d been looking forward to it, going to a top-of-the-table team at a big ground.

"Then we gave them two goals in the first 10 minutes which made life hard."

Daish (pictured) revealed he had worked with the players on the training ground this week to eradicate the problems and hoped they can resume their revival at Broadhall Way in a competition which provided them with so many good memories.

He said: "The league is our priority but the Trophy is another interest for us and we can boost our confidence further.

"We did have a good result against them last week so they’ll be wanting to put that right.

"It is always tough going to Stevenage, our record is not great there but we’ll go there with confidence."

Daish said there was more to come from his side, despite six goals in three games against top sides.

He added: "Confidence has risen now and we want to keep it high and keep moving in the right direction. There is definitely more to come.

"We lost on Saturday and you are only as good as your last result so we are pretty much back to square one."

Fleet slipped back down to 23rd in the table after Forest Green’s win over Rushden and are effectively seven points from safety, taking into account their poor goal difference.

Stefan Bailey could be back after a bout of tonsilitis but Craig Easton remains out with a hamstring injury. Jordan Collins has resumed training after a foot injury which has kept him out for three months.