Things change quickly in football - just ask Will De Havilland.

The Stones defender was made captain by caretaker bosses Tristan Lewis and Simon Walton a week after former manager Harry Wheeler dropped him from the squad.

It's quite a turnaround for the big centre-half, who will wear the armband while Blair Turgott recovers from a knee injury.

De Havilland said: "To be honest, it hasn't been great the last couple of weeks but I spoke to Tristan and Si straight away and they told me they think I deserve to play for the commitment and stuff I show and gave me the captaincy, which was a huge honour.

"Things happen so quickly in football. A week ago I wasn't in the squad and then I'm out there as captain.

"It's not my decision who plays but I just knew I had to keep doing the right things, don't let it get me down, keep working hard and eventually I'll find a way back in and that seems to have happened."

Maidstone players learned of Wheeler's exit on Friday morning and the mood immediately lifted under Lewis and Walton, who led the side to 1-0 win at Boreham Wood the next day.

De Havilland said: "We came in on Friday and everyone got told.

"Tristan and Si let us know what the plan was going to be and from then on we knew we had to get in positive mindsets.

"We know how it's going to be, we just need to go out and get results now.

"I wouldn't put the change in atmosphere down to any one thing personally but maybe what was said by Tristan and Si, it was real positive.

"They just told us to take the shackles off, go and enjoy ourselves, that's the main thing.

"We're coming into work and the last couple of weeks, all of us have been down and it's been quite clear to see.

"They were just trying to get a bit more positivity into us and tell us to enjoy it more because it's our job.

"It seems like there's a lot more positive energy and togetherness and we can tell the fans have our backs, which is massive."