STONES STILL ROLLING ON!
GEORGE Elokobi insists his Maidstone United side are not in danger of succumbing to fatigue as they look to complete a marathon season on a high.
The Stones have already made club history by reaching the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time, beating the likes of Championship promotion chasers Ipswich Town along the way.
Elokobi’s men moved a step closer to sealing an immediate return to Step 1 by recording a 2-1 comeback win over Aveley on Wednesday night, thanks to goals from Matt Rush and Muhammadu Faal.
Now they make the trip to Worthing for the play-off semi-final this afternoon, looking to keep their season alive in the 62nd match of a memorable campaign.
But despite the pressures of a gruelling season, Elokobi says his players are desperate to prolong their season further by securing victory at the Sussex Transport Community Stadium.
“I have got a group of players who are just taking everything in their stride,” Elokobi told The NLP. “We know that there is still plenty of football to be played, and we are nowhere near finished.
“Worthing are a fantastic side, but I have a group of players who are together and everyone tries to contribute as much as they can. Even those who were on the bench against Aveley were revving up their teammates in the changing room to make sure we would get over the line.
“My players have an allor-nothing mentality and, because of that, we are not tired mentally. We don’t want the season to end – we want to carry on competing.”
Maidstone had mixed results against Worthing during the regular season – winning 4-0 at the Gallagher Stadium before suffering a 5-1 hammering in the reverse fixture, which saw Bivesh Gurung sent off in the first half.
Elokobi is fully aware that his charges will need to be at their best if they want to keep their dreams of promotion alive.
“Worthing finished third for a reason, and it is important that we respect them, but we need to make sure that we don’t get caught up in emotions,” added the Cameroonian, who was handed the managerial reins on a permanent basis 13 months ago.
“We need to have a strategy that we are going to work from, but I also want the players to enjoy the occasion because it is a fantastic achievement to be in the play-off semi-finals.”
Former Southend youngster Rush has been a revelation since joining from Aveley in November, and Elokobi believes he is capable of causing the Worthing backline untold problems.
“Matt has improved so much under our guidance and he is at his best when a game gets stretched because defenders don’t like facing their own goal,” the boss admitted.
“If you’re not on your game, he will punish you. I am super proud of how he has performed since joining us.”