Ebbsfleet United caretaker manager Daryl McMahon revealed he was pleased to end a difficult week with a victory as his side defeated Hendon 1-0 at home in the FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round.

Former manager Steve Brown was sacked on Wednesday after a run of poor performances, with experienced midfielder McMahon temporarily taking over management of the team.

McMahon’s reign got off to a positive start, with victory coming thanks to Anthony Cook’s second-half strike, and the Fleet boss was pleased with the effort shown by the side.

He said: “I thought we worked very hard today and we were very organised, creating some good chances as well.

“After what’s been a difficult week, the boys showed a great attitude and a great determination to get the win today.

“I can’t fault any of them, they worked so hard today.

“We’ve lost a manager this week and I didn’t play today, having been captain in the week, so I missed today, meaning there were a couple of changes from Tuesday night and I thought they responded brilliantly.

“People like Corcoran, Johnson and Bricknell, who haven’t played loads of football lately, have come in, played 90 minutes and worked their socks off for me.”

The game also featured a change in the usual formation Ebbsfleet play, and McMahon was pleased with how his side adapted to it, having only been told about the switch two hours before kick-off.

“We talked it through on the tactics board before the game,” said McMahon.

“It’s a shape that we play with the youth team and it’s a shape that I like. I thought we strung together some good moves with it today.

“The three in midfield are physically good and technically good, so we tried to use as much as we can to pass through into Godden and Bricknell.”

McMahon is Ebbsfleet’s academy manager and, despite now managing players he has played alongside, he revealed he had not made any changes to his management style.

He said: “I’ve tried to treat it exactly the same, to be honest.

“I’m quite vocal, anyway, so I just go in and say what I think, which is what I’d do anyway.

“The only difference being that, today, doing a team talk for the first time as a manager was slightly different. The standard of delivering what you want the lads to do is slightly new to me in terms of a first team level, but it’s something I’ll become comfortable with.

About whether he will continue to play while manager, he revealed: “I haven’t really thought about it, to be honest.

“I think today it was right for me to be on the sideline, just so I could see the team and take myself out of the limelight.

“I didn’t want to be manager, captain and taking the free-kicks, as that would have been a bit silly.

“I thought I’d come out of the firing line and put the onus on someone else, in order to give people minutes who haven’t actually played, as we’re going to need them, especially coming up to Christmas.

“It was important to give them confidence that I believe in them and put them on the pitch.”

The Fleet travel to Maidenhead on Saturday.

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