Harry Wheeler described Will De Havilland as “one of us” after defying his latest head injury in Maidstone’s draw with Chesterfield.

De Havilland was off the pitch for almost 10 minutes receiving treatment after a clash with Chesterfield player Charlie Carter.

Never afraid to go in where it hurts, the big defender has been in the wars ever since his loan spell at the club last season.

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But he was brilliant on his return and boss Wheeler said: “He came straight back on and won even more headers.

“It just shows the mentality he’s got and the desire he’s got.

“He’s one of us and he’s been excellent.

“It’s a mentality. People underrate that.

“To go and get a head injury like that and come back on and carry on doing it, there’s not many people who would do that.

“He just showed today he’s definitely one of ours and he’ll be here for a long time.”

Wheeler felt Maidstone’s performance underlined their progress.

He liked what he saw from the Stones in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Gallagher Stadium.

They missed out on a third straight win when Marc Antoine Fortune cancelled out Blair Turgott’s goal but Maidstone are going in the right direction.

Wheeler said: “I’m proud of the lads. I thought they were all excellent.

“I thought the work rate, endeavour, the organisation, they’re getting there.

“We’re nowhere near the finished article but we’re so much better and we’ll take seven points out of nine.

“We’re three unbeaten and we’d have snapped your hand off for that when we came in.

“From what we demand, there’ll be more improvements as well.

“There’s bits we can do but it shows how far we’ve come.

“The lads are sitting in there at the end like we’ve lost the game.

“Two weeks ago this would have been like a win to take a draw there.

“We’re delighted, really pleased for them and we just know there’s stuff we’ve got to, but they’re doing well.”

Read the match report from Maidstone's 1-1 draw with Chesterfield