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Maidstone head coach Hakan Hayrettin said Justin Amaluzor’s first-half substitution against Slough was tactical.
Amaluzor was withdrawn after half an hour of yesterday’s 1-1 draw on his return from injury.
He didn’t look too happy as he made his way to the dugout and Hayrettin confirmed it was nothing do with the winger’s fitness, having missed the past two games with a hamstring problem.
He’s a key man for the Stones but no one is bigger than the team.
Hayrettin said: “It was a tactical decision. We believe at this football club that everybody has empathy for the badge.
“We also believe everyone has to work as hard for each other as for the team and we made a decision to take him off.
“There’s nothing wrong with his injury. We took him off. No one’s bigger than this club.
“I love working for this club. I think this is an unbelievable football club.
“They don’t have to be the best player, they don’t have to be the best team, we’ve got to find the winning team and that formula and that’s what we’re going to do.
“We’ve been working as hard as possible to get that into our players and we will.
“We’re like a diesel engine. We start slow and we end up quick.”
Matt McClure levelled on his debut as Maidstone recovered from a poor start but they couldn’t force a winner.
Hayrettin said: “If we’re going to be totally honest they were better than us first half.
“We didn’t really get going, we were too far off them, we let them dictate to us.
“It was only the last 15 minutes of the first half that we had a go and we got back in it.
“Second half, we were much better than them.
“Our work rate, as ever, has been consistently high, we huffed and puffed and we thought we had a penalty, it was a clear handball - he didn’t give it - but we’ve got to do better first half.
“It’s small margins, fine details, we need to get them to understand what’s required.
“Listen, we’re three games unbeaten, which is a positive, so we’re building bricks, we’re building foundations, but we weren’t good enough in the first half."
