Jay Saunders was so convincing in dismissing rumours of Alex Flisher’s return that the man himself was almost taken in.

Maidstone had quietly been targeting FA Cup weekend for a Flisher comeback following nine months out with a knee injury, only for word to get out.

Boss Saunders quashed talk ahead of the second qualifying round tie against South Park but named the winger on the bench and brought him on to a standing ovation with eight minutes left.

Flisher, who set up Matt Bodkin’s hat-trick goal in a 6-2 win, said: “It feels brilliant. It’s been a long time coming, I can tell you that. It’s good to get a run-out.

“We’d known roughly for quite a while now and this was my aim. It was touch-and-go a few weeks ago but it all came into place.

“Quite a few people were coming up to me last weekend and I didn’t know if someone had told someone.

“In the week Jay was denying it and I was sat at home thinking ‘I hope he’s not actually denying it!’

“I was happy just to sit on the bench but 10 minutes from the end he said ‘go and warm up’ and I got a bit excited then.

“It was a great reception. I was a bit nervous when I came on but it was good to get a reception like that.

“It brings you back into it and once I was on I settled down a bit and that was it, just run round like a headless chicken.”

Saunders said: “To be honest, I wasn’t going to put him on the bench but I just thought with seven subs we’d put him on there.

“We’ve spoken about it with Paul Smith (physio) and Flish and it was a case where he now needs to start building up his minutes in games.

“He got the all-clear from the doctor to start going, and the surgeon, and he’s been working very hard.

“He needs to lose a bit of weight - Flish knows that - but you’re going to after you’ve been out that long, and he needs to get his fitness up.

“But you can see he’s going in for tackles, headers, that he’s confident with it.

“I wasn’t going to bring him on and then with the game the way it was - at 4-2 we looked quite comfortable - I just felt if you’re going to give him a game, I’d rather bring him on than when it’s 0-0 or 1-0 and tackles are flying in.

“At that point I thought South Park looked beaten so it was the perfect game to give him a run-out.”