BUT DUMAKA fUTUre rULeD OUT
Vas Karagiannis could still have a future at Maidstone – but there’s no way back for Dumebi Dumaka.
With Stones struggling, some fans have been calling for the pair to be recalled from loan spells at Dulwich Hamlet which finish next month.
They were popular on the terraces last season, scoring important goals as Maidstone won promotion to the National League.
But boss Jay Saunders felt Karagiannis (pictured below) let himself down in pre-season – even if the door isn’t shut – while Dumaka simply isn’t in his plans.
Saunders said: “I can only judge people on pre-season and training and Vas came in and was way off it, wasn’t fit enough, wasn’t sharp enough, didn’t do well enough in pre-season and if you’re like that, you aren’t going to get in the team, simple as that.
“Vas probably killed himself because he wouldn’t go out on loan earlier. If he’d gone out earlier he’d have played a few more games and then we don’t know what might have happened.
“I’ve never shut the door on him. I said to him ‘go out and score some goals’ and he’s done that.
“With D, I just think sometimes things don’t work out and he’s one of them.”
Maidstone go to secondplaced Lincoln City tomorrow (Saturday, 3pm) and meet Eastleigh the Gallagher Tuesday (7.45pm).
Alex Flisher serves a onegame ban at Sincil Bank after picking up his fifth booking against Dagenham, at on while Anthony Acheampong is expected to be out for a fortnight with a hamstring tear.
Saunders gets on well with Imps boss Danny Cowley and admires the job the former Concord and Braintree boss is doing.
He said: “Lincoln are as good as anyone in this league.
“Forest Green are probably the best team we’ve played this year, them and Eastleigh and I expect Lincoln to be similar.
“They’ll be well organised and hard-working. Danny had a good, hard-working team at Concord, he went to Braintree and did it there and he’s now doing it at Lincoln, just with better players, so it’s going to be even harder.” Defender Callum Davies has turned his three-month loan with Folkestone into a permanent deal, while United remain on the look-out for new signings. Saunders said: “I’m getting there. There’s a couple we’re looking at. “The problem at this stage of the season is a lot of players are contracted, a lot of people want to keep squads around them, so it’ll take a little bit longer. “Whatever signings we make have got to make a difference.”