More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
John Still and Hakan Hayrettin got the response they wanted as Maidstone won at Dulwich on Tuesday night.
The pair were critical following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Wealdstone but United were back on their game at Champion Hill.
They could easily have brushed the Wealdstone performance under the carpet, writing it off as a first defeat in six, but the Stones bosses won’t let standards slip.
There were two injury-enforced changes, with Clovis Kamdjo and George Elokobi in for Sam Corne and Ryan Johnson, but the rest of the side were given a chance to redeem themselves.
The 1-0 victory moves Maidstone up to seventh in National League South.
Head of football Still said: “After Saturday’s game, which I thought was our worst performance of the season, it was really tough.
“We had a long talk about do we trust the players, that sometimes you have hiccups, and say we’ll go again with the same team.
“We just felt we’d seen enough in training that I couldn’t see where that performance at Wealdstone came from.
“We gave them an opportunity and not only did they respond, they responded terrifically.
“I thought we were threatening quite a bit and, to be honest, we were deserved winners with a very, very professional away performance.
“I can only turn round and say to all of the players that you’ve answered the questions we’ve asked of you.”
Head coach Hayrettin said: “We spoke, we addressed it, we told them what we thought was required.
“We told them we didn’t accept that performance, neither should they, and I think they took that on board.
“No one crosses the white line to play as bad as they did on Saturday but in our minds it was that they didn’t take on board the detail we gave them.
“Any supporter here tonight, it was the detail that won us the game because we did the right things in the right areas.”
Ibby Akanbi scored Maidstone’s 85th-minute winner, seconds after replacing Jonny Edwards.
The substitution proved a masterstroke but who deserved the credit?
“I’m going to say it’s John,” said Hayrettin. “John said to me with about 15 minutes to go, shall we make a change and I said yes.
“He said maybe go with Ibby and I said about putting Matt McClure or Nana Kyei up there.
“He said to have a think about it and I agreed to go with Ibby. It’s all about timing!”
Still said: “Ibby got in behind them and I’ve got to say it was a cracking finish.
“We just felt that little bit of extra pace late in the game might be the ideal thing.”
