Daryl McMahon says the respect Ebbsfleet are being shown in the National League shows how far they've come as a club.

This time last year Fleet were newly-promoted and feeling their way back into the top tier of non-league football.

But after reaching the play-off semi-finals last season even the league's big boys are wary of leaving themselves open against McMahon's side.

Despite that, Ebbsfleet have already taken seven points from games at Leyton Orient, Hartlepool and Barnet.

"It shows how far we’ve come," McMahon said.

"What I said to the players in training was ‘you’ve gone to Leyton Orient and made them put 11 behind the ball, you’ve gone to Hartlepool and they’ve done the same, Sutton came here and played the same and so have Chesterfield. So the respect you’ve got now from what you’ve done last season means that we’re going to be more of a feared team now than we were last year.'

"That means we’ve got to be better, that when chances come, we’ve got to take them, because we’re not going to get as many as we have in previous seasons.

"Teams are going to defend deeper against us so it’s another challenge for us to rise to."

McMahon tweaked his system at Barnet on Saturday, playing an extra man in midfield with Danny Kedwell operating as a lone striker.

It worked as Kedwell scored his first goal of the season in a 3-0 win.

McMahon said: "Every time we don’t score a goal, it’s Keds’ fault. He’s got to go out and someone else has got to come in.

"I’ll be told we’ve got to play two strikers but we played one striker (at Barnet) and scored three. We play two or three at home and we don’t score.

"Sometimes it’s about having people in different positions, to play through people and maybe create something different."