Matt Rush can’t wait to see the damage he and Aaron Blair inflict on National League South defences following his return to Maidstone.

Rush is back at the Gallagher Stadium after rejoining on loan from Sutton for the rest of the season.

He had two goals disallowed after coming on during the second half of Maidstone’s 1-1 draw with St Albans on Saturday.

But he wasn’t to be denied at Aveley on Monday, where he marked his first start since returning by opening the scoring in a 3-0 victory against his old club.

Fellow striker Blair has drawn plenty of comparisons with Rush since joining Maidstone from Braintree, due to his tireless work rate and ability to score and create.

They’re qualities Rush offered in abundance last season and while there are similarities, there’s no reason why they can’t play in the same side.

In fact, they’ve done it before.

“I played with Aaron at Braintree,” said Rush.

“Aaron’s a good player. I think we’re maybe the same size and stuff like that but we’ve got different attributes.

“He’s probably more pacy than me in terms of really wanting to run in behind.

“I like to do that as well but I think together, if there’s one of us that causes problems to defenders, imagine two of us doing it at the same time.

“I’m hoping we can get that link-up going and see how many goals we score.

“He’s a bit like me in terms of the work rate and, at this club, that’s something the gaffer goes on about.

“The work rate from the front is really important, so the more players we have doing it, it’ll be easier for our defenders, and hopefully we can score a lot of goals going forward.”

Rush excelled at Maidstone after joining from Aveley in the early part of the season, with manager George Elokobi and assistant boss Craig Fagan getting the best out of him.

He had to sit out their run to the FA Cup fifth round but still scored 14 goals as United reached the National League South play-off semi-finals.

The forward was offered a new deal but, quite rightly, wanted to try and play as high as he could.

Sutton, back in the National League after three seasons in League 2, offered him that chance.

He signed a two-year deal at Gander Green Lane but it was still a difficult decision to leave Maidstone.

“I was on holiday at the time and it didn’t ruin my holiday but I was thinking about it a lot,” said Rush, who’s found game time limited at Sutton.

“It was a really tough decision because I loved it here.

“Working with George and Craig was really good, probably my favourite season that I’ve had so far, so leaving was tough but obviously I wanted to try and go up the leagues.

“But I said to the gaffer if I’m going to come back to National League South it will always be here and I’ve kept to what I told him.

“I’m back and hopefully we can get in the play-offs.

“I know it’s been maybe an indifferent start to the season but I think the team’s good enough to get promoted.”

As with Sol Wanjau-Smith, who rejoined a week before Rush, there’s a sense of unfinished business after missing out on promotion with Maidstone last season.

They suffered an agonising 2-1 play-off semi-final defeat at Worthing, with the hosts breaking to score a late winner seconds after Rush hit the bar.

“It was such a good season but it was probably the worst way to end in terms of hitting the bar and then they go down the other end and score,” said Rush.

“I think that team we had there was good enough to go up to the National League.

“I thought about it a lot in the summer. Obviously it’s not the best way to finish the season but I think this team is good as well.

“It’s a physical league but we’ve got a lot of players who can play football and you need that.”

Maidstone, who completed victory at Aveley with goals from George Fowler and Matt Bentley, are without a game this weekend.

They return to league action at Truro on December 14.