LIAM Daish demanded more from his Ebbsfleet squad after they crashed to their worst home defeat of the season against Barrow.

Fleet had given themselves breathing space between themselves and the pack attempting to avoid Blue Square Premier relegation with wins over relegation rivals Gateshead and promotion-chasing York City.

But the Kent side were sucked back into the scrap for safety when they succumbed 4-1 to Barrow at Stonebridge Road.

Former Everton striker Nick Chadwick scored a hat-trick, while James Walker added a penalty to give the Bluebirds, who are currently in the dreaded drop zones, a comfortable victory.

Fleet did manage to pull a goal back through Moses Ashikodi, but it was nothing more than scant consolation.

Daish admitted Chadwick’s first two goals, which were scored in quick succession, had knocked the stuffing out of his side.

He said: “I had too many players who were off-colour. I’m scratching my head wondering where that came from.

“I thought we started off well but the two goals in such a short space of time knocked the stuffing out of us and then we started getting a little bit anxious. “They had the bit between their teeth and we didn’t have enough to come back from that.”

Daish added: “We have to learn from it. In the first 20 minutes we were looking alright.

“I think we had a couple of opportunities where if we had been a bit more aware up front, we could have laid people to go in to score. I expected bit more a reaction in the second half but we didn’t really have it in us for some reason.

“It was just one of those off days. There was a big turning point with those two goals in such a short space of time.”

The Fleet’s relegation woes worsened when they learnt their 2-1 win at Chester in February will be expunged from the record books, meaning the loss of three vital points which could prove telling in the race to stay up.

Daish was critical of the way Chester’s chaotic season has been handled by the Conference and the other clubs, who voted in favour of expelling the Cheshire side at a meeting on Friday.

He said: “It’s just a total mess from start to finish.

“Even asking the clubs’ to vote Chester in passes the responsibility from the people who are responsible in the first place.”

Ebbsfleet will have little time to rdwell on the consequences of the lost points because they have two away games in quick succession against Kidderminster and Wrexham.

But neither of these fixtures will be easy as both teams are currently in mid-table and harbour ambitions of challenging for the play-offs.

Daish realises the tough task ahead and said: “We’ve won games which some people said we shouldn’t have, but we have a tough ask from now on.

“We’ve got two tough away games and I was just saying to the players that I need a bit more from everyone.”

No doubt Daish will be looking for a response from his troops following the Barrow debacle and tomorrow’s trip to Kidderminster provides the perfect opportunity.