Sacked Ebbsfleet manager Steve Brown was let down by his players.

That's the view of midfielder Dean Rance, who was arguably Brown's best signing as Fleet boss.

Speaking before the news of Brown's sacking broke, Rance admitted the team ended up looking like "a bit of a mess" during the 3-0 home defeat to Gosport on Tuesday.

It proved to be Brown's final game in charge.

Rance said: "Everyone's putting it on Browny but we are the players. Browny put together a squad that was good enough to get promoted so the blame comes down to us. We've got to stand up and take responsibility for it.

"It's too easy for the manager to take the blame.

"Has training been good enough? Yes. Is the team he put together good enough? Yes.

"You can't keep blaming the manager. As players, all of us need to say 'are we doing enough?' We all said it. We spoke after the game and we feel like we've let him down. We know how much effort he put in behind the scenes and we know how good a manager he is."

Defeat to Gosport left Ebbsfleet fourth in Vanarama Conference South, seven points off the top.

"We just looked like a bit of a mess in the end," Rance said. "That's not like this team. I don't know where it came from. Maybe the pressure started to get too much for some people.

"Last year, when we went 1-0 down, we didn't worry about it. We'd claw it back, we'd get a goal and get on with it. This year, I don't know what's been going on. We go a goal down - from nowhere, when we're the ones dominating a game - and we think we've got to get a goal from somewhere straight away.

"With everything that's going on, it feels different to last year.

"We all know the expectations of the club and the fans. Everyone knows what's going on.

"Browny said after the game on Tuesday that we've got to get back to loving the game, the job, going out there and playing football and not worry about everything else that's happening."

Ebbsfleet start life after Brown with a home game against Hendon, of the Ryman League Premier Division, in the FA Trophy third qualifying round on Saturday.