Ebbsfleet striker Billy Bricknell was an unused substitute for the third week running on Saturday.

Chasing victory away to Eastbourne Borough, manager Steve Brown chose not to make any changes at Priory Lane, where it finished 1-1.

Bricknell, who also missed out against Farnborough and Bath, had to watch from the sidelines as late chances went begging. His last start was against Hayes & Yeading on October 25.

Brown said: "At 1-0 (to Eastbourne), it was a case of just being patient. You first thought is ‘do I make a substitution?’ Do you go a bit more aggressive, do you go a little bit more attack-minded? But I thought we were the better side at that point. I didn't think we deserved to be 1-0 down.

"Sometimes you put a substitute on and he scores or creates a goal. We saw Maidstone stick on (Ben) Greenhalgh the other day, he made a brilliant drive down the left and (put in) a great cross for Frannie Collin to score. Other times you stick them on, they give it away and the other team breaks and you lose. They’re calculated risks, substitutions.

"I just felt we were turning the screw in the last 10 or 15 minutes. We got the goal back and I could see us driving on, getting another goal and I didn’t want to disrupt that.

"Matty (Godden) had a chance where he just slipped at the wrong time and he blazed it over. Charlie (Sheringham) chested it down when he should have headed. Cookie (Anthony Cook) had a shot from the edge of the box that wasn’t flush. Brendan (Kiernan) got in behind and they’re claiming for the world that it was handball in the second half with the players in there.

"That’s why I didn’t change it, because I didn’t want to disrupt what looked quite good to me."

Alongside Bricknell on the bench at Eastbourne were goalkeeper Preston Edwards, full-back Aiden Palmer and midfielders Matt Johnson and Michael Corcoran.

Brown said: "It’s tough. I’ve got Billy Bricknell sat out of the side and I’ve got Preston sat out of the side. I’ve got (Shane) Huke, who’s come in and done a great job and (Chris) Sessegnon’s come in and done a great job. That’s what having a squad’s about.

"I’ve said that whatever position you find yourself in, we’ve got another tough game on Tuesday (at home to Gosport), so the preparation and your thought process has to be right for the next two days. We’ll get them in on Monday and some will work slightly harder than others because they haven’t had any football – but they’ve got to stay mentally positive.

"Look at Preston – Brandon (Hall) goes down and Preston could have been on. Mentally, he has to be in the right place to go on for 25 minutes. If he goes on, he’s got to perform very, very well.

"If I’d stuck Bill on – and I had thoughts of sticking Bill on for the last 10 minutes – Bill had to stay positive. Bill doesn’t like not playing.

"You can’t keep everyone happy all the time because everybody wants to play."