Ebbsfleet boss Dennis Kutrieb felt his team made hard work of defeating Dulwich on Saturday.

Victory moved the Fleet 18 points clear of second-placed Dartford at the top of National League South.

While Kutrieb was not impressed with some aspects of his team's display, he also felt Dulwich defender Quade Taylor should have collected a second yellow card in the first half but he was given a major reprieve by referee Matthew Norton.

“At the moment we take every three points,” stated Kutrieb. “I think it was much harder than it should have been.

“We could have finished the game off earlier and haven’t done it again, hit the post twice and some decisions were not really good. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter as we’ve got three points.

“Dulwich are always a tough opponent and they could have come back with a penalty so we’re happy we’ve got the points.

“I have to say the referee didn’t have his best game. I don’t know how in the first half (Quade Taylor) could stay on the pitch for a clear yellow card so they could have had 10 men after 35 minutes. But it is how it is and where I start to struggle is with how much joy he gave the penalty.”

Striker Dominic Poleon scored four times to grab the headlines but Fleet keeper Mark Cousins made a number of impressive saves against a Dulwich side whose best form of defence was to attack.

The contribution of Cousins was not lost on the Fleet boss.

“Them two were really outstanding,” said Kutrieb. “Cousins made some outstanding saves, including the penalty. I think it was a good pen but he decided for the right corner and he went really strong.

“It’s sometimes a disadvantage if you play a long time with someone and Frankie Raymond and Cousins played a long time at Bromley. It’s normally an advantage for the goalkeeper and he did outstanding there.

“I’ve no words for Dom today, it was four great goals, he tried hard and if there were more chances he would have been ruthless and scored more goals. He looked like ‘give me the ball and I’ll score goals today’.”

Victory means the Fleet lead Dartford by 18 points with seven games to play. But the Darts still have nine matches left after their trip to Concord was washed out by a waterlogged pitch.

With a far superior goal difference, three more wins will guarantee Ebbsfleet the title and Kutrieb is sticking to his targets.

“I don’t see 18 points, I just see 12 points as they could easily win their games,” added the Fleet boss, whose side visit Slough in a televised game this Saturday.

“Nothing has changed. I said we need four wins, now we’ve got one so we need three more wins. If we get the three wins then I think we’re definitely promoted.

“We want it as soon as possible. Saturday at Slough will be a tough challenge as it is a live game and everyone will turn up for it. It’s a different challenge so we need to be ready.

“I’m happy we have a week to prepare as they play a midweek game, and it’s the same for Taunton the week after. We have to make sure that we’re ready like we showed in big parts of the game against Dulwich.”