Boss George Elokobi was more than happy to take the overdue bit of luck which led to Maidstone’s winning goal in their FA Cup tie at Herne Bay on Saturday.

The National League South side edged to a 1-0 victory against their Isthmian South East hosts to reach the fourth qualifying round as young Bay defender Skye Salmon put through his own net just before half-time.

Seven days earlier, a mix-up between Stones defender George Fowler and goalkeeper Alexis Andre Jr had allowed Chesham to take the lead during a 2-2 home league draw.

But it was Elokobi’s men who were the beneficiaries of a mix-up at Winch’s Field after they had dominated in the first half, with Salmon inadvertently nodding past on-rushing goalkeeper Harry Brooks to find his own goal.

Asked if his team had deserved that bit of luck, Elokobi replied: “I’d say that.

“When you look at the chances we created in the first half - their keeper (Brooks) having to make a couple of saves and us hitting the post - it was important that we kept going. Our heads didn’t drop.

“Could we have been a little bit more clinical at times? Yes, we should have been - in both the first and second half.

Report: Herne Bay 0-1 Maidstone

“But we have been working, making sure we recognise triggers on when to press aggressively, and the players recognised that today and put their centre-back (Salmon) under immense pressure.

“It was like we saw last week against Chesham at home when they put our defenders under immense pressure and it led to a mistake that cost us a goal. That’s exactly what has happened here today, as well.

“We knew, if we gave them time on the ball, they could hurt us in the wide areas with diagonal passes that were going to put us on the back foot. We didn’t give them many of those chances and the pressure from our front players has led to that mistake, and it’s led to a goal.

“We’ll take that bit of luck because we haven’t had a lot this season.”

While the Stones clearly looked the higher-division side, they struggled to carve open Steve Lovell’s outfit throughout the game which was played in front of a crowd of nearly 2,000.

And Maidstone almost paid the penalty for their inability to kill the tie off, despite their dominance, as Herne Bay twice went close to forcing a replay late on.

But the key in the FA Cup is simply to get the result and progress.

“It was a fantastic performance from our group of players,” reflected Elokobi.

“We came here, knowing it would be a difficult place to come to. Also, credit to Herne Bay.

"They gave us a few problems towards the end, which was good to see, but the game was managed perfectly by us in terms of in possession, out of possession and denying Herne Bay territory for them to play in.

“They have quite a few good players in the midfield area, but we matched them up there.

“When we did that, could we hurt them in the areas that our scouting reports told us that they had limitations in? I thought we saw plenty of pluses from today, which was important.

“The mission was to come here to a tough place and to get Maidstone United into the draw for the next round of the FA Cup - and our group of players have done that today - so well done to them.”

The victory again leaves the Stones just one win away from the first-round proper ahead of tomorrow’s fourth qualifying round draw as they aim to replicate last campaign’s record-breaking run to the last-16 of the competition.

But Elokobi, whose side will visit Worthing in the league next weekend, said: “We don’t look at that.

“We’ll just look at the next game.”