Dennis Kutrieb is a man who knows his stats but even the Ebbsfleet boss didn’t realise their victory at Taunton was a fifth 1-0 league win away from home this season.

His Ebbsfleet side might be known for their free-flowing football and goalscoring prowess but they’ve needed to dig in when required, and it’s part of the improvement during Kutrieb’s three-year tenure at Stonebridge Road.

The Fleet never recorded a 1-0 win on their travels during the truncated 2020/21 campaign while they collected three 1-0 away wins last season.

“I would prefer a 4-0 win away!” joked Kutrieb. “But I think 1-0 is always a scoreline where you can read something out of the team.

“It’s a massive difference where you compare the first, second and third season. This is the difference in understanding how the league works, and what you need to deliver.

“I said to the boys on Tuesday, I was really proud as they understand this league better. Taunton were fighting for their lives.

“It was a game where you could easily come away with a draw or a defeat and that’s the difference.

“Yes, we are almost there. But it could have been easy to have a day off knowing that we’ve got other games where we can make it.

“From this point of view, you can see the whole attitude and mentality is one of the big advantages of the season.

“On Saturday, even after 87 minutes when they got a red card, our players say let’s go and win the game because we have eight or nine minutes left. That’s something I really like about the boys.”

The victory at Taunton was even more impressive given the uncertainty around the fixture.

The game survived three pitch inspections in total, the first one on Friday afternoon.

“We tried to prepare them as always, but we didn’t know if it was going to happen or not,” said Kutrieb.

“We got information when I came off the training ground on Friday lunchtime that there would be an inspection at 4pm. Then they said morning, then lunchtime.

“For me it wasn’t changing as we prepared the boys and our job was almost done. I think the credit goes to the players as this was tough, as sub-consciously it’s in the back of their head that the game could be off.

“I was really proud of them. It was a tough pitch, tough conditions. It wasn’t as bad as it was against Hampton, it was a bit better than that, but similar so very soft and boggy. It was tough to play but the boys were outstanding.”