George Elokobi saw a complete display from his team as Maidstone reached the FA Cup first round.

United, the story of last season after making the last 16, are through to the main draw again after beating higher-league Ebbsfleet 3-0 at home on Saturday.

They were better than their National League opponents in every department and advanced thanks to Aaron Blair’s double and Antony Papadopoulos.

“That was a complete performance in terms of what we set out to do,” said Stones boss Elokobi.

“We asked the team to be ruthless in both boxes, first and second phases.

“It was important we were relentless in our press but also in how we countered on the transition, as well as the speed of our recovery back into our units.

“It was all there today and we showed a lot of resilience in key moments because we know Ebbsfleet are a good outfit.

Report: Maidstone 3-0 Ebbsfleet

“They’re a National League side for a reason and in a cup game they want to progress to the first round proper as well.

“It was a great opportunity for our players to go toe-to-toe, shoulder-to-shoulder with them, and I thought we were superb.”

Maidstone were five games unbeaten going into the tie, with last weekend’s 2-0 National League South win at Worthing adding to the confidence.

They were ready for Ebbsfleet - and it showed.

“We saw a lot of positives in our performance last week and our players have been working tirelessly in terms of the scouting reports,” said Elokobi.

“We knew what Ebbsfleet’s strengths and weaknesses were going to be, what sort of personnel and the system they were going to play and we knew they could come at us with changes of personnel.

“We did all the work with our players in training so they knew what was coming.

“That’s why, after the second goal, Ebbsfleet changed their shape but we’d worked on that so we knew exactly what was coming, and it was important we didn’t drop deep, we didn’t panic.

“The players’ game management was excellent in terms of how we wanted to execute the game plan and I thought the balance in the team and the chances we created and how we finished those chances was just magnificent.

“When we ask for a complete performance, I can’t really single out any player today. Even the subs that came on were tremendous.

“This hasn’t just happened this week, it’s been coming.

“Everyone’s been playing so well and training and working really hard, everyone wants a piece of the action in terms of their competitive edge and that’s what we strive for.

“This is a local derby and we told them we’ve got to have heart, desire, we’ve got to match Ebbsfleet’s work ethic, their commitment, their determination, their desire.

“We know they’ve got quality and we have to show our quality in the right areas.

“When we got the draw against Ebbsfleet, we knew we had to be at our absolute best in terms of playing our A-game and the team has done that.

“We denied them territory in terms of how they wanted to play, we forced them to play into our hands and in those moments we were physical and resilient.

“We showed a lot of composure to get the ball down and pass it when we needed to expose those areas we thought they were limited at. It was a really excellent performance.”