Maidstone have no time to dwell on their FA Cup exit – there’s a National League game to win.

United host Woking on Saturday (3pm) after a testing week that’s seen them clock up more than 1,000 miles in trips to Southport and Rochdale.

Stones lost Tuesday night’s replay at Dale 2-0 and didn’t get home until gone 5am the following morning.

Manager Jay Saunders has called on his players to put tiredness out of their minds and make a fast start against struggling Woking.

He said: “We’ve been fortunate. I don’t think people realise, there’s a lot of clubs that don’t get cup runs for years.

“We’ve had three in a row now and we were close to going through in the first game but that’s the FA Cup and I wish Rochdale all the best.

“We’ve just got to concentrate on the league now – it’s bigger for us to stay in the league.

“The only tough thing is we’ve had a long four days with going to Southport and now Rochdale.

“We’re back at five or six o’clock in the morning, the boys are up for work and then we’ve got to work out what we do with them. It’s just getting that balance right and making sure we can look after them.

“You hope that we start well on Saturday. If we do that, that gives everyone confidence. Start badly and then all of a sudden people have got excuses. They’re a bunch I trust and I’m sure they’ll prepare right.”