Injured Maidstone defender Joe Ellul is determined to be back in action before the end of the season.

Ellul is facing a lengthy spell out after damaging ankle ligaments in United’s win at Oxford City earlier this month.

But the big centre-back is staying positive and has vowed to return and help his team-mates clinch promotion.

“I won’t let it be my season over,” said Ellul, 32, who also works as a builder.

“It’ll be quite a bit after Christmas but I’ll be doing everything in my power to get myself back playing.

“If we’re in a good position coming to the back end of the season, and I’m fit, someone’s going to have to hold on to their shirt, because I’ll be coming back to win the league, or go up in the play-offs, whatever it may be.

“I’m hopeful because I’ve got Luke (Jenner) and Beth (Cooper, Stones medical team) who are two of the best around and they’ll make sure I get everything done right.

“Hats off to the club, too, because they’ve done everything they can as a professional club to help me. I will be back.”

Ellul landed awkwardly after winning a header in the opening stages of Maidstone’s win at Oxford.

He left the ground on crutches, with his foot in a medical boot, and scans have confirmed the worst.

He said: “I’ve got two ligaments, my ATFL and my CFL, and I’ve done both of them completely, so I’m looking at a lengthy spell out.

“I’ll know more once I’ve seen the consultant about an op but they’re trying to do whatever gets me back quickest, which is what I want.”

Ellul travelled to Maidstone’s FA Cup tie at Chichester on Saturday and intends to help out as much as he can off the pitch.

Not only will that benefit the club’s young defenders, it will also do wonders for Ellul mentally while he recovers.

“It’s a bit demoralising not being able to play but I couldn’t just sit indoors and look on Twitter, I needed to be here,” he said.

“I want to try and be a good influence away from the pitch and try and get the boys doing the right things.

“Where I’m a senior player as well, I feel like it’s my job to take a load off George’s back (skipper George Elokobi).

“He does all the stuff on the pitch but if I can help off it, I will, and that’s where my headspace is at right now.

“On the pitch I’d class myself as a leader, me and George are very vocal when we play together.

“Obviously we’ve got young centre-backs, whether it’s Raphe Brown or Taylor Curran, and if I can be a good influence on them, and be around training and try and get them to become better players, better defenders, then that’s my job and I’ll do it.

“That’s what a senior player does and I’ve been in the game long enough to know how it works.”

There’s no doubt Maidstone will miss Ellul, who’d been outstanding in the opening weeks of the season.

But he added: “The boys have to step up now because I feel I had a great start to the season.

“I feel like I came back a different player from last season, I’ve improved, I’ve grown even more and, especially with the whole Covid thing, you’ve got to be mentally strong.

“If I can get through the time we’ve had with Covid, I can get through this and, with the boys we’ve got, we’ll be fine.”

Stones boss Hakan Hayrettin said: "We're going to miss Joe. He's been fantastic this season, immense, absolutely amazing.

"I think he's got into the players even more now he's not playing, which is encouraging to see.

"He's a big personality, a big player for us, a big presence and in my opinion he'd been playing even better this season.

"His recovery is important. It's a long haul back but we'll support him every step of the way."

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