Gary McCann said that he went back to his roots with the system during his side's 2-1 defeat against Ebbsfleet United in National League South. 

Hampton took an early lead through Tommy Wood, before being pegged back by Rakish Bingham and Greg Cundle scored the winner for Ebbsfleet after half-time. 

McCann felt circumstances had caused him to move too far away from his coaching philosophy and he was pleased with how his team carried out his preferred system despite defeat. 

Speaking to club media, he said: "It has been a change of mindset, within the management team I have looked where we are at and I looked at what my teams tend to be about. 

"We have been a little bit too cautious; we have been on the back foot, and we have had to go with two up front because of the squad being stretched and that isn't something I am accustomed to. 

"We have had to do lower blocks and I don't like playing that way, I want to get after teams. 

"Today we took lots of risks in that system, but it was carried out perfectly. I thought the three midfielders were brilliant, I thought the front three got after them and didn't give them a platform to build from. 

"The biggest challenge in the way we set up today was the two full-backs and we just about got that right on the majority of occasions. 

"A couple of times they created overloads in those areas and gave the full-backs problems, but in general I felt we coped with that. 

"It is more like us and more like my teams, I like teams to find it difficult to play against us and in the last two games although the performances have been there, we need to turn that into results." 

McCann, however, was not finding too much comfort in the performance levels as his team succumbed to their fourth straight defeat. 

He said: "There were many positives and I am really happy with the performance, I don't think many teams are going to stand toe-to-toe with one of if not the best side in the division and make it as difficult for them as we did. 

"But when we pick up the paper tomorrow, it is another defeat and that is something that we have to arrest very, very quickly. 

"That is four defeats on the trot, the last two performances have been much better on the back of two really tired performances, bit tiredness isn't an excuse. 

"I am a firm believer that if performances are there, results will follow but if we have to get a scrappy win against Chelmsford at the weekend then that is what we have to make happen."