‘Believe’ will be the word of the day as Maidstone bid to pull off another FA Cup giant-killing.

The Stones go to Championship high-fliers Coventry on Monday night (7.45pm) looking to add to their shock victory at Ipswich in round four.

Their 2-1 success at Portman Road centred on manager George Elokobi’s message to believe it was possible.

Elokobi has once again instilled that into his players as they head to the CBS Arena in a history-making last-16 tie.

“Our openness with our players is how we’ve created this environment, based on honesty, trust, empathy and integrity,” said Elokobi.

“It’s about respect. It’s about treating them as people first, to believe in themselves.

“You need to believe in yourselves for anyone else to believe in you.

“And when you go out there as a team we need to make sure we believe as a group that the impossible can be made possible.

“They see it. They see how we work with them.

“We understand we are in a results business but if they see us trying to help them to be good people first, and then to be better footballers, I think they appreciate it.

“They’ve been given that freedom to go out there and make mistakes and not get killed for it.

“It will make you believe and I think they’ve seen that through the season.”

The odds are stacked against a Maidstone side who are sixth in National League South - 95 places below their Championship hosts.

But they’ve got this far, reaching round five for the first time in their 127-year history, and you just never know in football.

Anything’s possible as far as Elokobi is concerned but the main thing is to enjoy the occasion at the Sky Blues’ 32,500-capacity home ground.

The visitors will be backed by 4,800 away fans behind the goal, with tickets selling out in hours.

“It’s surreal, it’s historic,” said Elokobi.

“We’ve just got to savour this moment and make sure we enjoy it as a community - that’s the whole point of us being here.

“Our players need to enjoy it with their families, the owners, everyone connected to Maidstone, needs to enjoy it.

“Plus, I know we’ve got thousands of admirers out there now, globally, that want us to do well and enjoy being here in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

“You have to believe but also we have to be together and we have to understand the achievement for this football club and the community as a whole and also the history that’s been made.

“There’s no pressure on our players and there shouldn’t be any pressure on us as a football club.

“We know Coventry is a fantastic club, managed by a very experienced manager in Mark Robins.

“We’ve just got to go there and showcase ourselves as Maidstone United Football Club, like we’ve done in all the other rounds.

“We’re going to try and be competitive and we’ll be ready.”

The Coventry v Maidstone game, which is being shown live on ITV4, is the first of this season’s last-16 ties.

It carries prize money of £225,000 and £125,000 in TV broadcast fees for each club.

There are no replays at this stage, with extra-time and penalties coming into play in the event of a draw.