Ebbsfleet United manager Steve Brown defended his decision to substitute striker Matt Godden during Saturday’s dull 0-0 at home meeting with Bath City.

The Fleet had already put in a lacklustre display when defender Anthony Acheampong was sent off late on in the game, causing Brown to replace man of the match Godden with defender Shane Huke.

This prompted outrage from some sections of the home support, with many booing on the final whistle.

But Brown revealed he was not too bothered by the fans’ reaction.

He said: “Obviously when Matt went off, we had the reaction from the crowd - and I’ve said I’m not fussed about reactions from crowds.

“They’ll vent their frustrations and say what they need to say, but the group knows why I did it and we know why I did it and that’s all that matters.

“If you think that we’re going to go on and beat Bath with ten men, there is a chance but the percentage chance of you going on in the last 10 minutes and winning the game is a lot slimmer than 11 v 11.

“We’ve had an 80 minute crack at 11 v 11 and we didn’t break them down, so at 10 v 11 you’re thinking about the fact that the opposition are going to try and get all three points at that stage.

“So I made the substitution I made and we’ve come out with a 0-0.

“If they deem that not good enough, then there’s nothing I can do about that at all.”

Regarding the performance, Brown said he felt his side lacked attacking creativity in a game that was low on chances.

The manager explained: “I thought it was quite scrappy and the conditions didn’t make life easy.

“It was a game of few chances and against another side that wanted to frustrate us.”

And the Fleet chief accepted there is still work to be done to make sure his side rediscover their scoring touch quickly after a trio of straight home blanks.

Brown said: “We’re just not quite there in terms of our finishing and our creation at the moment. It’s just not quite there in the final third.

“If you draw, you only know if the draw is any good the following week as if you lose, you’ve dropped five points.

“But if you win you’ve got four points from two games, which is what you’re looking to get.

“So I think the frustrating thing from my perspective is we’ve drawn three games at home 0-0 and we’ve got to try and turn those 0-0s into wins.

“I’ve had a chat with the group, which will remain private with the group as I don’t want to upset anybody else by saying what I’ve said, but we will try and find a way to win tight games.

“At the moment, teams are coming here and being very defensively solid and we’re not finding a way to break them down.”

The Fleet will now try to put that right this Saturday when they host Farnborough (3pm).

Follow us on Twitter @NewsShopperSprt