Ebbsfleet’s Giles Phillips has admitted the players know they need to bounce back after their poor start to the season.

The Fleet lost their opening four National League matches before getting off the mark on Monday with a goalless draw at Braintree.

It’s been a challenging couple of weeks after a largely positive pre-season and American-born defender Phillips knows they need to improve.

“It’s hard to pin down exactly what the issue was and I don’t know if there was much of an issue because we’re all good players who have played at a good level,” he said.

“Hopefully now we can bounce off the momentum that this game has given us.

“The first four games were confidence-deflating.

“I don’t think anybody saw it coming but it’s about the reaction and how we bounce back, how we perform from now.

“It’s only four games that we weren’t on it but over the grand scheme of things in a long season, hopefully that can be the only four.

“We want to give the fans good performances and play good football and we’re more than capable of that.”

Phillips has previously worked with Fleet manager Danny Searle at both Aldershot and Waterford .

He admitted he’d never seen an outburst like the one Searle delivered after the Woking defeat last weekend.

“He let us have it but we want to back him up as the manager and give him performances that he deems are worthy,” added 27-year-old Phillips.

“He’s told us multiple times that mistakes are going to happen and he can forgive mistakes but what he can’t forgive is us not bringing an intensity.

“That’s what we showed on Monday more than the other games.

“I can’t say a bad thing about Danny. I’ve played under him for multiple years now and I just want to give my best for him. He always gives me and the rest of the team his best.”

After a first point and clean sheet of the campaign at Braintree, Phillips wants the Fleet to build on that when they host FC Halifax this Saturday.

“We’re happy to get off the mark, happy to get a clean sheet,” said Phillips.

“It’s about time we showed up defensively and hopefully this is the performance that gets that train rolling and we continue to get clean sheets.

“Now that we’re off the mark that’s going to be the foundation that we build on for the next games and hopefully get more points on the board.”