Manager Dennis Kutrieb believes the break for FA Cup action has come at a good time for his Ebbsfleet squad.

The Fleet have won just one of their last eight games - with seven of those played in a three-week period - during a time when key players have been missing through injury.

They entertain National League South Slough in the Fourth Qualifying Round at Stonebridge Road on Saturday.

“I think it’s a good time that we get a break in the league as that’s still the most important thing for me,” said Kutrieb.

“It’s good that we have two weeks to get things right and ready for AFC Fylde (on October 21).

“The FA Cup is always a bonus but it’s good to have a break from the league and maybe it can help us to build some confidence, if we turn up with the right mindset it can be a positive.

“We need to see who we can put in, who needs minutes, but still put a strong XI out because of course we want to win the game.”

While the match is an obvious banana skin for Kutrieb’s men, he’s hoping that the FA Cup can be used in a positive way for his team.

In the previous two campaigns, the Fleet have exited at the First Round and Second Round but that’s meant a disruption to their league programme and both ventures into the competition came at a cost.

They’ve reached the First Round in five of the last six seasons, although they haven’t been as far as the Third Round since 1995/96.

“I don’t want to put too much attention on the FA Cup,” added Kutrieb. “My first aim, and this will never change, is that I always want to try and reach the Third Round. That’s a general aim for me personally but I wouldn’t put an aim on our squad at the moment.

“The FA Cup is always a distraction from the league which can be good but the last two seasons it was always trouble for us. Last season when we played Fleetwood, we had a tough time afterwards.

“We played Leyton Orient the year before and afterwards we went through a tough time as we picked up injuries. Everyone was focused on the FA Cup so much and we lost the focus for the league.

“That’s why, while I like the FA Cup, there are also reasons why I don’t like it - it can be a dangerous distraction, but maybe at this moment in time it’s the other way around and it’s the perfect time to get a little bit distracted from the league and the pressure to get points on the board.

“We have the one-week break in between to the next league game. It always starts to get tricky when your league games get postponed as you need to play FA Cup, so as long as it’s in the schedule and you don’t need to chase the league games, then we should be fine.”

More players will hope to return from injury against Slough, although the game may come too soon for leading scorer Dominic Poleon.

But there’s likely to be one new face involved with Kutrieb confirming that summer signing Matthias Fanimo will be in the squad and hoping to get his first competitive minutes in an Ebbsfleet shirt.

“He's ready to go, he could have played on Saturday but we said to give him one more week to get ready,” confirmed Kutrieb.

“He will definitely be in the squad for this week. He had a massive muscle injury where he’s been out for three months.

“He’s such a promising new player but it will take time now as he hasn’t had a full pre-season, now he needs to get back fit and get minutes here and there.

“As soon as he understands what we want to do and he gets his fitness, then he will make a massive impact for us, I’m 100% sure.”