Sam Corne believes Maidstone are recapturing their early-season confidence following the midweek success at Ebbsfleet.

Man-of-the-match Corne scored twice, including the winner, as United beat Fleet 3-2 at Stonebridge Road on Tuesday night.

Hakan Hayrettin’s side started the campaign with a seven-match unbeaten run before an FA Cup exit against Dartford triggered a slump in form.

They won for the first time in seven league games against Chippenham on Saturday - Joan Luque’s penalty securing a 1-0 victory - but the performance at Fleet was on a different level.

“Listen, those Kent derbies, especially under the lights, are always enjoyable,” said midfielder Corne.

“Obviously the run we’ve been on hasn’t been the best so winning at the weekend and trying to build a bit of momentum was good, and getting the result, that’s even better.

“We always back ourselves regardless, we know how they play, we just tried to nullify their areas where they get joy and I thought we did that.

“It was a good night, they’re the ones you’ve got to enjoy.

“The league is tight, if we win these games it’s like a six-pointer.

“You’ve just got to be consistent wherever you go and hopefully come the end of the season you’re up and around it.

“I think we’ve turned a corner.

“Listen, we’re going to lose games but we’re going to win more than we lose.

“Look at the start of the season, we were on a great run, morale was high, it feels like you can’t lose.

“We’ve just got to keep that going now and look to build on it.

"You look at the games we’ve lost and we’ve had opportunities.

"At times we’ve been the better team but the way football goes sometimes, you’ve got to take your chances otherwise it bites you.

“We conceded two goals against Ebbsfleet but the boys defended really well and we scored three.

“The way the game was going, it was so open. Even when we went behind we weren’t playing bad.

“I looked at the clock, it was 2-2 after 20 minutes and I was thinking, how’s this going to end up?

“We came in at half-time 2-2 and said stick to the gameplan, look to do certain things to stop them and we’ll get opportunities, and we made it count.”

Corne’s own form has been excellent this season, even if the team have had a rough time over the past six weeks or so.

He’s determined to keep it going, for his manager and the Stones fans who have continued to turn out in big numbers.

“I’ve played under Hak for three seasons now and previously at Braintree,” said Corne.

“We love him to bits, everything he does, he does to the best of his ability and sometimes we don’t reflect how honest he is as a person.

“We don’t go out there to lose and he doesn’t set us up to lose but we’re trying to turn that round and we’re doing that for him and the fans especially.

“The fans came in good numbers, even on a Tuesday night.

“We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing, give them what they want and keep kicking on from here.”