LIAM Daish has praised the effort of his Ebbsfleet side after a productive festive period for the Conference play-off chasers.

The highlight was yesterday's emphatic 4-1 home success against Grays at Stonebridge Road - a result described by the Fleet head coach as the best of the season.

Stacy Long's brace and solo efforts from Neil Barrett and Michael Bostwick sent the majority of the 1,396 New Year's Day crowd home happy and left Daish beaming afterwards.

He said: "Grays had the best defensive record in the league and were coming off an excellent win against Aldershot.

"It was our best result of the season and made it four wins from the last five, so the run we are on at the moment is a great credit to all of the players."

Daish was also delighted to see his side hit four in a season where the Fleet have struggled to score at home.

He explained: "We've got a bit of a different dimension about us at the moment.

"It's not all about one player scoring all the goals because we've got different midfielders and strikers weighing in.

"If we had a couple of centre halves who could score regularly then we really would be talking about a decent spread."

The goal scoring exploits of 18-year-old John Akinde have earned the young striker an 18-month contract at the club and Daish believes it is a fully deserved reward.

The head coach said: "John was delighted with the news and it is exactly the reaction I would expect from him.

"He is a lovely lad and a real credit to himself and his family.

"The players all love him and he is great to have around the place. He deserves to be on contract and has done everything I've asked of him.

"I sent him out on loan to Whitstable earlier this season to get some experience and if I asked him to do the same thing tomorrow, he would do it without any questions.

"John has a very bright future ahead of him and hopefully he will fulfil his potential at Ebbsfleet United."

Daish also confirmed he is still waiting for the formalities of the MyFootballClub website takeover to be completed before entering the transfer market for fresh faces.

He added: "Nothing will happen until it is finalised, so I can't really say any more than that."

Ebbsfleet will look to continue their impressive run this Saturday when they entertain Weymouth.

Daish's side lost 2-0 in the reverse fixture in early September, but Weymouth are currently struggling at the wrong end of the table and the head coach is urging his side to build on their recent record.

He said: "I expect them to try to cause us some problems and we have got to keep putting in the performances and effort to get a result.

"The lads have worked really hard over Christmas to get their rewards and will know they must continue what they've been doing against Weymouth."

Chris McPhee is the only injury doubt for the Fleet after picking up a knock in yesterday's victory against Grays.