Ebbsfleet boss Daryl McMahon admitted AFC Fylde's Danny Rowe was the difference between the teams on Saturday.

Rowe scored twice at the start of the second half as the Fleet were beaten 3-1 at Stonebridge Road.

They were warned about Rowe before the game and again at half-time but ultimately they couldn't stop him.

Rowe opened the scoring with a cross-shot from wide on the left before curling a brilliant free-kick beyond the reach of goalkeeper Nathan Ashmore.

McMahon said: "Danny Rowe is the best goalscorer in the division and we’ve been beaten by him today - two fantastic goals.

"If he’s meant the first goal, it’s an absolute worldie. The free-kick’s terrific and the third one’s a counter-attack when we’ve tried to play offside when we shouldn’t.

"But that happens across the season. We’re trying to get back in the game so the third goal I can half-swallow but the first two were poor and we’ve got to do better.

"We said it at half-time, if you switch off once, he scores, and we switched off twice and he scored two. People have got to do their jobs better defensively, for the third goal and the first goal."

Defeat dropped Ebbsfleet, for whom Corey Whitely came off the bench to score a cracker, to ninth in the National League.

McMahon said: "We’ve had a tough start to be honest if you look at who we’ve played.

"We’ve played three sides who were in the play-offs last year, four relegated sides over the last two seasons and Eastleigh away, who are always a decent outfit.

"Not that any game’s easy in this league but when you look at it on paper, we have had a tough start.

"If we win today, we’ve got two points a match from eight games, which is a great start.

"In the first half we were good. We countered really well but bad decision-making in the final third (cost us the chance) to score ourselves.

"That’s three off the bench for Corey.

"It’s a great finish, a great strike, and we need our players like him, Coulson, Weston, Shields, Powell and McQueen, along with Kedders, to produce moments of magic because they can.

"They’ve got to do it more consistently."