Ebbsfleet boss Jamie Day admits promotion to the Conference is beyond his team this season.

Defeat at Concord on Saturday means the Fleet are now 10 points adrift of the Conference South play-off places with just six league fixtures remaining.

Day said: "I think we’re out of the play-offs now. We’d have to win all six games and we’ve not done that since I’ve been here.

"We’re relying on others to lose. I’ve not given up hope 100% but realistically we’re out of it now.

"I’m disappointed because when we took over, I still believed, with all the changes, we had a good chance of making the play-offs if the boys gelled and we got a bit of luck. But we haven’t done that since I’ve been here."

So what motivation is there for Ebbsfleet's players in the final month of the season?

"Some of them are playing for contracts," Day said. "We’ll give Aiden (Palmer) and Westy (Michael West) game time to try to get them back (after injury) and Os (Alex Osborn) is also included in that.

"It gives the other boys more time to know each others’ games inside-out. They’ve got a period of time to work with each other, build the team spirit up and nail down their places for next year because we will need to improve the squad again."

Day added: "We’ve got too many players in the squad. I’ve found that a bit of an issue. It’s not any of the players’ fault, it’s just that there’s too many here.

"We will downsize a bit but I still feel we need to bring some more quality players in. We’ve lacked a little bit of creativity in midfield so that needs to be reviewed.

"We have targets that we’ll speak to in the summer. Obviously players become available that we didn’t think would be, so I don’t want to put all the eggs in one basket and then we’re back to having 27 players again because other players become available.

"We need to be a bit cute with it. We’ve got some targets in mind and we’ll start the process."

Joe Howe's shoulder injury has ruled him out for the rest of the season but Day will not ask the out-of-contract full-back to prove himself in pre-season.

He said: "Joe deserves more than that so we’ll offer him something for next year.

"Joe’s a good player, he knows this level and he knows the club. He was disappointed (by the injury verdict) but I said to him ‘you’ve got to write this season off and come back stronger next year.’

"His injury isn’t career-threatening and he’s done well enough in the games he’s played.

"It’s the same with Anthony Acheampong. He’s not started lately but his training mentality has been a lot better. He’s working hard and he deserves to keep his place next season.

"I'd like to keep them both."