Justin Edinburgh said his side “didn’t compete well enough” at times as Leyton Orient’s suffered a 2-0 defeat away at Ebbsfleet United.

Orient’s lead at the top of the National League was cut down to just goal difference thanks to goals in each half from Jack King and Chris Bush, with King opening the scoring after Orient failed to clear a corner and his teammate adding the second with a stunning free-kick.

Speaking to the club website, Edinburgh said: “They’re a strong side on real good form but at times today we didn’t compete well enough and credit to Ebbsfleet for getting the three points.

“I think the first goal really summed up our start to the game. We were on the back foot, everything we spoke about we didn’t go and produce, we were hesitant, we played on the back foot and I think the inevitable happened.

“When you wait for something to happen, that’s when it goes against you and that’s what it did.”

Orient responded well to going behind initially, with chances for Macauley Bonne and Josh Koroma, but both were denied by Nathan Ashmore in what was a terrific performance by the Ebbsfleet keeper.

Edinburgh said: “We had a good chance, the keeper made a good save from Macauley. We had the free-kick, he made another good save.

“In the second half I thought we looked like we were going to come back into the game, but obviously the free-kick rocked us and made it very difficult.”

However, Edinburgh was keen to praise his players’ efforts as they continued to push to get back into the game.

He said: “The players went to the end, had one or two half chances with balls flashing across the box. The keeper made a good save from Dan Happe, one from Josh Koroma, Jamie (Turley) hit the post with a header.

“We went at it but we weren’t good enough in both boxes today with the goals we gave away, certainly the first one, but the second one, he’s dispatched it very well with a good free-kick.”

One of Edinburgh’s attempts at salvaging something from the game was to make a triple substitution on 67 minutes, with Jamie Turley coming on for his debut along with Matt Harrold and Craig Clay in place of George Elokobi, Jordan Maguire-Drew and Charlie Lee.

When asked about the move, Edinburgh said: “We needed to get back in it, we needed the balance in the back four. I think Dan Happe’s a very good ball player, Jamie gave us the balance on the right rather than having two lefts, that allowed us to bring the ball out a little further into the midfield areas.

“That’s what we have got the players there for, we looked to try and change it. Matt came on and caused problems so we had a reaction from the subs but not quite enough to get us back in the game.”

Orient’s first chance to rectify the loss will come on Saturday when they host Maidstone United at the Breyer Group Stadium.