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Hakan Hayrettin’s hunch paid off as Maidstone moved up to second place in National League South.
The Stones boss has made a habit of getting his changes right this season and he was at it again in a 3-2 win at Slough.
When he withdrew striker Ibrahim Olutade for midfielder Charlie Seaman it seemed the visitors were about to settle for a point.
But Hayrettin made the switch in order to push George Porter up top and it paid off as he headed home his second goal of the game in the 87th minute.
It was a case of substituting the substitute, with Olutade - who'd set up Porter's first - an early replacement for the injured Scott Rendell.
“We went for the win,” said Hayrettin. “We took him off purely on the fact that we thought George Porter may sneak in.
“He has that little bit of devilness to his game where he can arrive in the box.
“It’s nothing against Olutade, I think he did well when he came on, he set the second goal up for us.
“But then we thought if we get a free-kick, and with Charlie Seaman’s pace and power, he can make things happen.
“He’s a little bit disappointed that he didn’t start today but the team’s winning.
"We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again - the team’s good, the squad’s even better.”
Hayrettin described Maidstone’s first away win as “vitally important” and it came against a decent Slough side who made last season’s play-offs.
United conceded a third-minute opener but were in front by half-time and although the hosts hit back, Porter’s late header from Gavin Hoyte’s cross settled it.
Hayrettin said: “I told everyone before the game that Slough are an exceptionally good side.
“We said last week not every game is going to be 6-0, it’s going to be a different game with different merits.
“We worked ever so hard, we missed some really good chances, George Porter had two or three, Ibby Olutade had one but we were good collectively in the last 15/20 minutes.
“We talk about managing the game in blocks of 15 and the last 15 minutes I thought we were immense.
“We scored the goal, a great ball in the box from Gavin Hoyte and I think we thoroughly deserved our victory.
“I want them to enjoy the result, I want them to feel immensely proud of themselves and their team-mates, I want everyone to go away fulfilled that we got three points.
“We’ll assess it on Tuesday, we’ve got an in-house game, some of the players will play in that and we’ll look at the video of this and the finer points of the game where we think we could have done better.
“It’s vitally important to get that first away win but we have a belief in the changing room and we’ve got to keep that belief going.”
