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Ebbsfleet United boss Garry Hill on the 0-0 draw at Boreham Wood

Garry Hill admitted Ebbsfleet's draw at Boreham Wood was another game they should have won.

Hill's first two matches in charge of Fleet have finished goalless, this one giving him his first point back in the National League.

It followed Ebbsfleet holding Cheltenham of League 2 in the FA Cup first round.

Ebbsfleet manager Garry Hill Picture: Andy Jones
Ebbsfleet manager Garry Hill Picture: Andy Jones

Hill took positives from that game, and felt his side raised their performance levels at Boreham Wood, but wasn't satisfied with another draw.

He said: "I’m very frustrated. For the first 25 minutes we were very bright, asked a lot of questions and created several chances.

"You can have chances but goals win games. The skipper, Dave Winfield had a header he didn’t hit the target with, Corey Whitely had an opportunity he didn’t take, Danny Kedwell had a great chance to hit the target and didn’t hit the target, Sean Shields forced a save out of the keeper and he had another half-chance.

"They become real sticking points when you analyse the game, that we could have finished the game off.

"They rode their luck in the first half and we had several good chances in the second half as well.

"But it’s another clean sheet, away from home. We’re solid at the back, we’re getting up high, making it very hard for teams and we’re pressing.

"We’ve come here today and played 4-3-3, so we’re not defensive-minded in any way or form.

Garry Hill was pleased with Sean Shields' contribution at Boreham Wood Picture: Andy Payton
Garry Hill was pleased with Sean Shields' contribution at Boreham Wood Picture: Andy Payton

"We’ve got the players to hurt teams in their half of the field, we’ve got the quality and the pace to ask questions and we’ve done that today.

"I would have taken that clean sheet before the game but when we analyse how many chances we had, and not scored one, it’s a bit frustrating."

Ebbsfleet have now kept three clean sheets in a row and conceded just two goals during a six-match unbeaten run.

Hill said: "When we look at the defensive duties collectively as a team, and even more so the back-four boys, we look very solid.

"We are trying to play in their half instead of turning round and inviting teams onto us.

"We’re on the front foot, we’re pressing a lot higher up. You could see that today and even last week against Cheltenham.

"But even though it’s two clean sheets and two results, we should have won both games."

Overall, though, Hill is getting a response from his players.

"You can see we’re playing with a lot more intensity," he said. "You could see the way we started today, the energy.

"We fetched the boy Shields in and he was very sharp. He’s not been playing for quite some time for some reason but gave us a lot of pace, whipping balls into the penalty area, asking questions of them.

"We moved the ball very quickly, it wasn’t slow, it was from side to side, Andy Drury in there, moving it about, players supporting and overlapping. There was a high energy about us, we were doing a lot of things very quickly.

"I don’t think anyone can question the work-rate of the side over the 90 minutes.

"Even the last 10-15 minutes, you get a lot of away sides sit back and take a point but we were still going for it.

"We’ve thrown three fresh forwards up front, we’ve done everything to try to win three points and whoever we play against in this league, we’ve got to be looking to win games.

"We’ll never respect a team so much that we go there for a draw. Every team we play, home and away, we’ve got to go for the wins."

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