George Elokobi felt Maidstone’s late goal at St Albans was coming as they enjoyed a winning start to the National League South season.

United players followed the game plan, keeping the hosts at arm’s length defending the slope in the first half before pushing on after the break.

The visitors looked the more likely scorers as the game wore on and got their rewards when Temi Eweka met Ben Brookes’ 89th-minute corner for the only goal of the game.

“I’m thrilled for our football club,” said boss Elokobi.

“It’s important we started on a positive coming to such a tough place.

“St Albans are a fantastic side, they’ve got a way of playing and if don’t do your homework on them and make sure you prepare right, they will hurt you.

“It was a tremendous result from our group of players who executed the game plan perfectly.

“A clean sheet away from home is good but it wasn’t just the clean sheet that pleased me, it was our organisation, in possession and out of possession and on the transition, making sure we’ve got our principles and our patterns right, especially in possession.

“At times we saw that a lot in the second half in terms of our movement, being patient and our build-up play in the final third, trying to show some qualities.

“We came close a couple of times and we kept saying it, the moment is coming.

“We’ve been resilient in the first half, especially when St Albans edged it in terms of their possession but they weren’t hurting us.

Report: St Albans 0-1 Maidstone

“So we knew the game was going to be stretched and it was important when that comes, we take the moment.”

Elokobi worked his players hard over pre-season to be ready for the opening game.

They were physically ready to last the pace but also mentally switched on to follow instructions, right the way down to the method of the winning goal.

The Stones boss added: “First game of the season, there’s every emotion going through the players’ minds.

“They’re excited, anxious, they want to get going, they want to test themselves against a good side but it was important we stayed calm, we stayed in control.

“We said they were going to try and build the play, they would keep lots of possession, especially in their low block, but it was important we stayed patient, we play off triggers but also we stay nice and compact and we force them to one side.

“You saw that at times and when you do that it becomes your strength because we’ve worked on this throughout the week but it was important on that transition, on the regains, can we make better decisions with the ball?

“We did that a lot in the second half in terms of being patient, not forcing the play too early, playing with purpose and when we got in the final third it was about that creativity in and around the 18-yard box but also while having security behind the ball.

“We saw that in good fashion, especially in the second half, and it was only a matter of time before we scored.

“We knew it might come down to set-pieces.

“We went through our routines and we got the goal off one of our set-pieces because someone wanted to put his head on the end of the ball which happened to be Temi Eweka.

“It was a fantastic delivery from Ben Brookes.

“I talk about the balance in the squad to make sure we don’t have just one restart specialist, we’ve got several now with a lot of quality in terms of our delivery.

“So, we know that’s going to be one of our strengths this season in how we set up but more importantly how we attack the ball and it’s about picking your spot and making sure you time your run, and we saw that from Temi’s finish from a fantastic delivery.”