Manager Dennis Kutrieb hopes Ebbsfleet’s professional status can help them through a busy period.

While most clubs in National League South are part-time, the Fleet are full-time.

They are set to play eight matches in all competitions in a 24-day period between last Saturday and Tuesday, November 15.

Asked if their professional status gives them a slight advantage, Kutrieb said: “Hopefully. I can’t tell you at the moment, we will see after the eight games.

“This is the first week of four weeks where we’ll have eight games in total. We’ll have a one-week break then and we’ll know exactly where we are.

“It’s a crucial time for everyone at the moment because there’s so many points to grab.

“We just need to make sure that we are there from game-to-game and, hopefully, it will give us a little advantage.

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“But we will know exactly by mid-November.”

It’s been a sensational start to the season but recent matches have shown Ebbsfleet won’t get everything all their own way.

Two-goal top scorer Dominic Poleon and defender Haydn Hollis put them 3-0 ahead at half-time on Tuesday but, despite St Albans having an outfield player Huw Dawson in goal in the second half, the Fleet failed to really test him and the visitors even pulled a goal back. Meanwhile, Ben Chapman was sent off for two bookable offences.

But Kutrieb didn’t want to be too critical of his troops and was happy to see the side look largely resolute defensively.

It followed Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Welling, who finished the game with nine men.

“Maybe just a bit of the mentality where you can’t switch off,” he said, on what caused their second-half issues against St Albans.

“It’s not mentally wrong because, as a human being and a footballer, you kind of know you have to go again on Saturday so why should I put so much effort in the second half when the game is over anyway?

“It can be a big mistake to think like this because, if they come back into the game with a second goal, you are in big trouble.

“We defended very well and that’s good to see that we are able to defend if teams put pressure on us. They did it very well.

“They passed it from the right to the left-hand side but, whenever they tried to enter the box, we were there and didn’t give them many options to enter the box.

“From this point of view, it’s good for me to see it as well. I didn’t want to see it but it’s good to see that we are able to do the other side as well.”

Hollis’ midweek effort opened his account for the Fleet and Kutrieb said: “He’s very important for us.

"He’s defending very well and a massive threat at set-pieces. It’s not easy to defend against him from set-pieces.

“If you get the deliveries in the right area, it’s always tough for the opponent to defend them.

“Finally, we utilised that on Tuesday. I’m very sure he will score more goals this season for us.”

Captain Chris Solly missed Fleet’s win over St Albans, however Kutrieb says his squad are fit and raring to go.

Ahead of their match at Hemel Hempstead this Saturday, Kutrieb said: “Everyone can come back.

“Greg Cundle was ready, we just rested him. Everyone is ready to go.

“You can see that Kieran Monlouis had a strong game for 60-odd minutes and Ben Chapman made an assist and had a great game - obviously in the first half more than in the second but, regardless, he played a good game.

“Sido Jombati had a good game. Everyone is ready so that might be an advantage for the upcoming games because the squad is ready to go and everyone wants to play. We just need to make decisions.

“Obviously now, we have two games on 3G pitches - completely different challenges to playing at our home ground - but as always, we will be up for it.”

After Hemel, Ebbsfleet visit Havant on Wednesday night.

Despite the Fleet’s fine start to the season, Havant remain on their heels but - for now - Kutrieb is putting that match to the back of his mind.

He said: “You have to play the games when they are coming. That’s what we do.

“I’m not overly excited for this game - it’s just our 14th [league game] of the season. If it’s the last game of the season and decides promotion or whatever maybe it would be different, but it’s just one game.

“I really don’t care about other teams at the moment. We need to do our jobs and that starts on Saturday with Hemel so we don’t need to think about Havant because Hemel there’s three points at stake.

“Then we can think about Havant and obviously, if we get three points against Hemel, we would have seven points out of three games.

“That would mean we’re in a comfortable position anyway and that’s what we should do, and that’s what we are going to do.”