Maidstone boss Hakan Hayrettin has welcomed the chance to keep playing during the country’s second lockdown.

Prime minister Boris Johnson announced fresh measures in a bid to control the spread of Covid-19, starting on Thursday and due to last until December 2.

But with National League football classed as elite sport, Maidstone look set to continue their South Division campaign.

Elite status appeared to have backfired earlier in the season as, while clubs at Isthmian level and below were able to welcome back fans, National League teams were told they had to play behind closed doors in line with the Premier League and Football League.

Maidstone remain deeply unhappy at the league’s distribution of a National Lottery bailout, designed to compensate clubs for lost gate revenue, but at least the show goes on.

Hayrettin said: “I’m glad our club and our league have stayed elite so, even in lockdown, I think we should carry on.

“We’ve got all the measures in place here to do the right things.

“We’re very stringent on all the checks that we to do, the track and trace and the amount of people here and the accountability.

“The club are very good at that so I’m happy we should continue to play our games.

“It’s a shame the fans can’t be here because I think it has an adverse effect on the players.

“Who wouldn’t love to play in front of our crowd?

“With 2,000-plus people here, you’d want to do well, wouldn’t you?

“But players are players and they want to play football and do what they do.”

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