George Elokobi knew Maidstone would beat Stevenage in the FA Cup third round - he even let his children in on it.

United, the lowest-ranked side left in the competition, bridged a gap of 69 places to defeat League 1 Stevenage 1-0 at a packed Gallagher Stadium.

Sam Corne’s first-half penalty settled the tie as National League South United reached the fourth round for the first time in their history.

Stones boss Elokobi called it, revealing details of a conversation he had on his way to the ground.

“When I set out from my home this morning, with my family, I told them,” said Elokobi.

“I said today I’ve got that feeling again we’re going to make history as a football club, we will make history and I told my kids, I said Dad is about to do something great today. I said that to them in the car.

“It’s amazing to have ourselves, Maidstone United, in the hat for the FA Cup fourth round, and we deserve it.”

Elokobi’s belief was matched by his players as they set about beating a Boro side who won 2-1 at Premier League giants Aston Villa at the third-round stage last season.

They thoroughly deserved their advantage at the break, Corne scoring from the spot in the second minute of added time.

Stevenage fought back in the second half, hitting bar and post, but Maidstone worked like dogs to see the job through.

“The players believed and when you believe in football, then you can achieve incredible things,” said Elokobi.

“We showed Stevenage every respect in our preparations and it was important the players believed in the work we’ve done.

“We told them it wasn’t going to come down to fitness, because we know how fit our players are.

“It was going to be about our concentration levels but also our resilience when we needed to be.

“In possession, we had principles we wanted to play from.

“We saw that in fine fashion in the first half, how quick we switched the play, how confident our players were.

“They were brave, they were bold in possession and they were hurting Stevenage.

Report: Maidstone 1-0 Stevenage

“I’m sure that was a shock to them, being a League 1 outfit, how well we could play.

“Technically we’ve got some incredible players in our environment and we keep trying to develop them.

“Out of possession, we talked about being compact, we talked about having cover, having support, making sure we’re doing it as a team, not as individuals, and I thought we did that excellently.

“On the transition, we specified speed in possession and out and of possession, how quick can we recover back into position but also on the counter, how quick can we break the lines?

“To see us through is an incredible achievement.

“There’s a lot of information that we pass on to them.

“We told them there’s no difference between yourselves and the players that train on a full-time basis playing in the league.

“There’s no difference, it’s just the ones that play in the league, they process things quicker.

“Our players are taking in information and they are executing it.

“Sometimes they will fall short, and it’s our job to pick them up and keep encouraging them.

“But to see what’s happened here today, our players deserve it.

“It’s the proudest moment in my young managerial career and hopefully there will be plenty more.

“I did say win, draw lose, it’s about this football club coming together and enjoying this occasion against a great opposition in Stevenage and you knew today there was not going to be any stopping that.

“Our players, I made sure they enjoyed it, I’d made sure they were relaxed, we made sure they had everything they needed going into this game to feel confident about themselves.

“We’re playing in front of a sell-out crowd and I said to them in the week you are already winners in the eyes of our supporters.”