Jamar Loza has amazed doctors with his recovery from ankle surgery as he closes in on a Maidstone comeback.

Loza was expected to miss at least four months when he went under the knife at the end of August.

But the striker is back in training and could even feature when United host Bostik League Enfield in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round next weekend.

Stones boss Jay Saunders said: “I’m hoping by FA Cup weekend we could have him back.

“He is very much ahead of schedule - the surgeon’s really pleased with him.

“He joined in training on Monday with the boys so hopefully in a couple of weeks we’ll have him back and that’ll be a massive boost to us.

“He’s a really, really big player for us.

“He’s a match-winner and if we’ve got him and the likes of Delano Sam-Yorke available it’ll make a big difference to us.”

The thought of Loza and Zavon Hines in the same side is an exciting prospect but Saunders is still wary of rushing last season’s top scorer.

He said: “It would be a good problem to have, getting Jam and Zavon into the side, but we’ve just got to concentrate on what we’ve got to work with for now.

“Jam’s obviously not full contact in training at the moment but he’s pretty much there.

“He’s ahead of schedule but I don’t want to build him up too much and then him have a breakdown but everyone’s pleased with how it’s going and hopefully he’ll be there.”

Maidstone dropped from fifth to eighth after losing their unbeaten home record to Bromley on Tuesday night.

They’re at the Gallagher again on Saturday, with struggling Guiseley the visitors.

Saunders said: “We’ve been on a good run, we dust ourselves down and go again.

“I don’t want to hammer the boys because that was our second defeat in 11 games.

“That’s the sign of a good side - if you lose a game you pick yourself up.”