George Elokobi was impressed with Maidstone’s performance against Eastbourne on Tuesday night.

Long-range strikes from Bivesh Gurung and Antony Papadopoulos were fit to win any game, while Aaron Blair added an injury-time third in a 3-1 victory.

The Stones are 11th in National League South after extending their unbeaten run into double figures.

“It was a tremendous performance from our team, a real controlled performance,” said Stones boss Elokobi.

“What pleased us was the dominance in and out of possession.

“Credit to Eastbourne, we know how they play and they’re a fantastic side.

“We knew we had to be on our A-game in terms of how we pressed to look for those triggers.”

Gurung matched his FA Cup wonder goal against Barrow for the opener, Papadopoulos bent home a great strike from outside the area for 2-1 and Blair pounced after Joseph Wright came racing out of his goal in injury time.

“It was a sublime finish from Bivesh,” said Elokobi.

“He only scores bangers, like we say in football, and it was an excellent hit by him.

“As soon as it went in, it gave us confidence that we could go again.

“We switched off once and got punished for it but then it’s about being resilient and not letting your heads drop but, more importantly, playing on the front foot.

“We knew there were gaps we could exploit and we did that.

“We know Papadopoulos can finish and it’s a great strike.

“Football is instinctive, that’s the beauty of it, and once the ball left his foot, we were celebrating.

“Eastbourne changed their shape two or three times, I think they had four big players up top at one stage.

“It was about game management in that moment and we were still looking to go on and get the third.

Report: Maidstone 3-1 Eastbourne

“We’ve always said defending starts from the front and when you’ve got players like Aaron Blair, Papadopoulos, Greg Cundle, Sol Wanjau-Smith, who understand how we play, we were on the front foot at all times.

“We knew their keeper was going to give us something, we knew his weaknesses, and Aaron Blair didn’t give him a chance to breathe.

“Then it was about that composure to put the ball in the back of the net.”

Maidstone’s long unbeaten run has moved them to within four points of the play-offs.

They’ve steadily improved after a poor start to the season and there’s all to play for.

“It’s just about making sure as a management team we keep building,” said Elokobi.

“Every game we try to get three points for Maidstone United Football Club by playing an attractive brand of football.

“Are we going to have challenges? Yes, of course. We’ve seen that and we’ve managed to overcome those.

“We’re still trying to get the right balance within the team but it’s good to see there’s competition for places now.

“It’s good to see the improvement, especially here at the Gallagher Stadium.

“We just need to find the right consistency of turning those draws into wins and we’re not far off.

“I always go back to that Chelmsford game (5-1 defeat in September) because that felt like a low for us.

“We conceded five a couple of times last season - Hampton and Worthing - but we never lose sight of the process we’ve created here.

“We don’t get carried away by results.

“However good, however negative, we keep our feet on the ground, we stay humble, we go to work.

“Our players, they just want go out there and do their best for this football club and, hopefully, they carry on doing everything we ask of them.”