Still’s wise words are guiding Khan in the right direction
Saidou Khan knows he can’t go wrong when he listens to his manager.
Midfielder Khan answered John Still’s call for a goal by scoring in Maidstone’s 4-1 FA Cup win over Kings Langley. It was his first for the club since joining from Tooting & Mitcham and perhaps overdue. Khan said: “John’s been on at me all week. I’ve been in the changing room doing skills with the boys and he’ll come in and go, ‘oh, you’ve got all these skills but you can’t get a goal, I want to see a goal.’
“When I scored I was delighted – I should have run over to him! “I normally get goals but sometimes they don’t come. I just thought, ‘keep performing, keep making the box and it will happen’.
“I don’t normally score headers, though, I think that’s only the second in my whole career.”
Khan feels at home in National South after making the step up from the Isthmian League.
All he has to do is keep listening to Still, United’s veteran head of football.
Khan said: “The first few games were difficult because the tempo was so fast but once you get into it I don’t think it’s that hard really.
“Just do what the manager tells you to do and I think you’ll stand out. In training he tells you what he wants and he makes everything clear.
“It doesn’t always go according to plan but at dead balls, throwins, set-pieces, everyone has a job to do and when we do our jobs right we get goals and we defend well.
“When it works, he goes, ‘see, I told you’.
“Everything he says is right and when we’ve done it, it works. “He has all the experience and he’s been in every situation. “He told us he’s been 3-0 up at half-time and lost, and been 3-0 down and won.
“When he speaks we listen because everything he says makes sense and he’s been through it before.”