The aches and pains are worth the reward for Maidstone captain Sam Corne.

Midfielder Corne scored his first goal of the season in United’s 2-0 league win at Worthing last weekend.

He’s aiming to build on that when the Stones host Ebbsfleet in the FA Cup final qualifying round on Saturday (3pm).

Corne recently returned from an ankle injury which sidelined him for five games.

It’s a case of no pain, no gain on the fitness front for the 27-year-old.

“I’m getting there,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a day where I don’t feel achy but as long as I can get a run of games and implement what I bring to the team, I’ll be happy.

“But we’ve got a good set of boys, boys who can play in all areas, so whether it’s me playing or someone else, we’ll be good.

“Whether you’re young or old, there’s always days when you’re going to feel fatigued or tired.

“The gaffer’s putting us through a hard regime in terms of gym work now to give us that extra 1%.

“We go into training, we do our gym stuff, and we do come in achy but it’s to benefit us, especially when you get to the last 15 minutes of games and we’re still running around and working hard.

“That’s the bit that’s going to get us across the line.”

Corne has good memories of playing Ebbsfleet in Maidstone’s 2021/22 National League South title campaign, scoring doubles in 3-2 and 4-0 victories.

More of the same would do nicely as the Stones attempt to reach the FA Cup first round for the second successive season.

Corne, who scored winners against Stevenage and Ipswich during last season’s run to the last 16, said: “I’ve had a couple of braces against Ebbsfleet over the years so a repeat of that would be nice.

“I opened my account on Saturday and hopefully the goals come like buses now.

“For every non-league club, you always want to get to that first round proper and if you can excel beyond that, brilliant.

“We want to go as far as we can, it’s money for the club, it’s a great attraction for players and fans, as we saw last year.

“Every time we play, we want to go as far as we can in that cup.”

Ebbsfleet arrive at the Gallagher bottom of the National League, while Maidstone are 16th in National League South.

Corne added: “I don’t think you can read anything into their league position. Whoever turns up best on the day wins.

“We went to Herne Bay in the last round and only won 1-0.

“That doesn’t mean we weren’t comfortable but you have to be on it for 90 minutes.

“They’ve got good players in good areas and we’re going to have to bring our A-game.

“It’s always nice to have a Kent derby.

“It’s going to be a tough game but it’s good we’re at home and us boys are looking forward to it.”

Corne’s second-half strike clinched Maidstone’s victory at Worthing as they returned to the scene of last season’s play-off semi-final defeat.

The Rebels scored an 88th-minute winner that day, ending the Stones’ promotion hopes, and the result was still fresh in the surviving players’ minds.

“We knew it was a tough place to come,” said Corne.

“The heartache of last year was still embedded in our minds, so we knew what they were all about and we had a game plan, we stuck to it and it came off.

“They’re a good team, you have to respect what they’re about but we implemented where we would hurt them and even though we didn’t have as much possession, we looked comfortable.

“They’re an attractive team in the way they play but you can have all the ball, if you’re not going to put it in the back of the net, we’ve got no issues.

“Every manager has their own philosophy and how they want to play.

“We knew what they would try and do and if we could hinder that and nick it in areas where we could be dangerous, we could hurt them.

“We said in the changing room that’s probably been our best team performance.

“We felt we were always in the game, we were comfortable whether we had the ball or not.

“Everyone put in a shift, everyone worked hard and the boys who came on did a job and that’s what it’s going to take over a season, everyone playing their part, doing what they need to do for the team and hopefully we get more success than not.”