Hythe Town were "five minutes" away from extending Ashley Miller’s loan spell at Reachfields before the Gillingham striker agreed to sign for Maidstone.

The 19-year-old played six times during his month with Hythe, scoring once, and looked set to stay on beyond the New Year.

Manager Scott Porter believed the deal was done but Stones boss Jay Saunders then came in with a late offer and Miller is now heading to the Gallagher Stadium.

Porter said: "I tried to get Ashley on loan for another month.

"We’d agreed it with (development coach) Mark Patterson at Gillingham that it was going to be done but five minutes before he signed, Maidstone came in.

"Their (Gillingham’s) policy is that they want him to go to the highest-ranked club and he wasn’t going to turn down Maidstone.

"I spoke to Jay Saunders on Monday and we talked about it.

"That’s football – we’re not going to fall out over it."