Daryl McMahon has warned Ebbsfleet risk coming unstuck against title challengers AFC Fylde this weekend unless they start taking their chances.

Fleet's profligacy on Bank Holiday Monday could easily have cost them two points against the 10 men of Eastleigh.

It finished 1-0 but with last season's leading scorers in town this weekend they can't afford to be so wasteful.

McMahon said: "I’ve told them it’s a warning shot. If you miss that many chances against Fylde, you’re in trouble.

"You’ve got to take your chances. Some of the football to get the chances was superb, so that’s good. But score - just one of them will do.

"You've always got a puncher’s chance at 1-0 and we need to be more ruthless in the box."

On paper Saturday's game at Stonebridge Road is one of the most attractive in the National League this season.

Both sides have been tipped to fight for promotion they play entertaining football centred around high-class strikers.

Danny Kedwell is playing better than ever for Fleet while Fylde's Danny Rowe, who won the Golden Boot in 2017-18, already has five goals to his name this term.

McMahon said: "They’ve probably done the best recruitment in the league if you look at who they’ve brought in - and keeping hold of Rowe. That’s massive business for them.

"They will go very close to winning the title. They got into the play-offs last year and I fancy them to be title contenders."

National League teams have played seven matches already and will have completed almost a third of their fixtures by the end of September.

"It’s way too much," McMahon said. "It’s ridiculous the amount of games we’ve played and we’re the same in September, seven games.

"No disrespect but you’ve got Premier League teams with the best athletes in the world and they don’t do what we have to do.

"We haven’t got the best athletes, the best nutrition, the best training grounds or the best pitches and it makes a massive difference. If you don’t ask those players to do it, why have we got to do it?

"It takes its toll on players’ minds. If you don’t play well on Saturday and you’ve got to go out and play on Monday, you’re not that confident.

"You don’t mind it once or twice in a month but we’ve just gone back-to-back the whole way through August off the back of pre-season when nobody’s fit. It’s a recipe to injure players."