Darren Hare has left his role as first-team coach at Maidstone United.

The former Gills coach joined Jay Saunders’ backroom team last September, succeeding Colin Reid, but leaves due to work commitments.

Stones boss Saunders said: “Darren’s left due to personal reasons with his work.

“He’s been good while we’ve had him here and I’ve enjoyed having him around the place but due to his work commitments he’s had to stop for the time being.

“He got on well with the lads, he’s a good coach and he was a plus to have around.

“It’s work commitments and it’s one of those things.

“That’s the way football is and he was finding it hard when we were doing the long away journeys to get away, he’s got a new job and it was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.”

Saunders is happy he and assistant manager Nicky Southall will cope with the workload and is in no hurry to replace Hare.

The Stones boss added: “If someone comes along that I think will add to it then we’ll look at it but it’s not something I’m going to rush into. It has to be the right person.”