Daryl McMahon was philosophical after watching his Ebbsfleet side lose on the road for the first time.

Fleet travelled to Oxford City in the FA Trophy first round on Saturday having recorded 10 wins and two draws in their first 12 away games in all competitions this season.

But although Matt Godden gave them the lead with his 17th goal of the season, Ebbsfleet fell away to lose 3-1 to their Vanarama National League South promotion rivals.

McMahon said: "It’s a bit of a reality check for some of the players and myself.

"Oxford played the conditions better than us. They played very well.

"It was a very good start from us. It was good for Matty Godden to get his goal again and we were so in control of the game.

"I’m not going to have a go at the referee but the bloke’s pulled Brandon Hall into the goal (for Oxford's equaliser which came direct from a corner) and it shouldn’t have been a goal. But it’s given and we should have defended it better anyway, you’ve got to play to the referee’s whistle.

"At the start of the second half, we were poor, in that period 15-20 minutes before half-time and after that, that was when we lost the game.

"I don’t think we defended well in wide areas at all. Coulson’s probably their best player and I don’t think we dealt with him to be honest."

Fleet were already 3-1 down when they had captain Tom Bonner sent off for alleged violent conduct.

McMahon said: "I don’t think anybody saw what happened, so I’m not too sure why he got sent off. There was a little coming together, I don’t think it was anything major but the referee obviously sent him off.

"I’ll have to look at it again. I didn’t actually see the incident so I’ll have a look at the video on Monday morning and we’ll go from there."

He added: "We are disappointed to be knocked out. We had four coachloads of fans come down, they’ve backed the boys home and away and we’ve not given them the performance they deserved.

"We’ll look to right the wrongs but at the same time, that’s our first away loss and it’s the 12th of December. We’ve been on a good run, it was always going to come to an end and unfortunately it’s happened today.

"We don’t go away and say it’s a bad day at the office. We go away and look at it and analyse what we didn’t do well and then we improve on it.

"We’re looking forward to next week now."

Ebbsfleet are at home to Phoenix Sports in the Kent Senior Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday.