George Elokobi says Maidstone’s league win at Torquay will have no bearing on their FA Cup clash.

The sides meet for a place in the First Round Proper at Plainmoor this Saturday (3pm) - a week on from the Stones’ 1-0 victory in National South.

But Maidstone’s success means nothing as the clubs prepare to do battle again.

“When the FA Cup draw came out we knew we were playing Torquay again but we’ve kept that aside and prepared right for the league game,” said Stones boss Elokobi.

“You can only play one game at a time and the first game was the league game and we treated it with the utmost respect.

“You enjoy the win and then you look forward to next week. Our players need to recover because they’ve put in a shift-and-a-half.

“We’ve always said as a management team we don’t run ahead of ourselves.

“Obviously we have to look at personnel, look at the boys who were cramping up, and make sure we prepare right.

“We also have to make sure we look at the chances Torquay created because they did create some chances and we need to stop them creating that many.

“We have to look again closely under the microscope and see where we could have been better because I think at times we could have been, especially when we had possession.

“At times, we gave it away a little bit cheaply and we’ll keep working on that.”

The win at Torquay was Maidstone’s fifth in a row in all competitions.

They’ve climbed to fourth in National South and are on the verge of reaching the FA Cup First Round for the first time in four years when, ironically, they beat Torquay.

“Encouraging is the right word,” said Elokobi.

“We’re not getting carried away. It’s a long old season.

“It’s good to see the work we are doing as a management team, the tactical points we are passing on to the group, paying off.

“Everyone understands how we play, our principles, and they are operating in those principles and bringing a bit of their own flair into it, which is important.

“It’s good when you work hard behind the scenes and see the reward on the pitch in terms of results.

“There’s going to be a time when we lose games and we actually learn more when we lose.”

Elokobi, meanwhile, will trust his players to decide who takes Maidstone’s next penalty.

Levi Amantchi saw a spot-kick saved at Torquay, a week on from Sol Wanjau-Smith’s Panenka effort at Winchester which didn’t count despite crossing the line.

“I said it was down to them who takes the next penalty and they’ve already been discussing who takes the next one as well,” said Elokobi.

“It’s down to them whoever fancies it on the day if we do get one again.

“Whoever can put it in the back of the net, take it, and make sure you’re as confident as you can be, pick your spot, hit it as accurate as you can and see where that takes us.

“We have a lot of good technical players in the team who want to step up but again you always look first to your forward players to add to their tallies.

“Unless they volunteer to give it to someone else, we’ve always said let our forward players take the penalties but it’s down to our group.

“They’re a fantastic group, they’re a close-knit group, they have conversations and they’re already having banter over who is taking the next one.

“Whether it’s Levi or someone else, I’ll leave that down to them.

“They manage it on the pitch, they are the ones playing on the pitch.”