Chief executive Bill Williams admits Maidstone United are up against a tight schedule to complete their new stand by the National League deadline of March 31.

Stones, who need to increase capacity at their home ground to 4,000 following promotion from the South division, have lodged a planning application for a large covered terrace behind the goal at the north end.

Work is due to start in early November, meaning everything must be done in less than five months to achieve the necessary ground grading for 2017-18.

But Mr Williams is confident those deadlines will be hit if, as expected, Stones are granted planning permission by Maidstone Borough Council.

He said: “It’s not as big as if we hadn’t already done one last year.

“The project last year (extending the main stand) was a £600,000 job and when you look at it and seeing the working, timing, digging and all the paperwork that’s involved, you get a little anxious at first.

“But we’ve done it once and we’ve got a similar thing this time. It’s not that daunting.

“Let’s be totally candid, we went into last season thinking that if we could get into the play-offs, it would be great but we never expected to get promoted.

“That side has come quickly but we’ve got to face up to it.

“Fortunately, in Terry (Casey) and Oliver (Ash), I’ve got two wonderful directors who are businessmen and know what it all involves.

“We’ve got a good team of architects and builders around us and a magnificent group of people who work for us.

“It’s something we weren’t expecting but it will be done.

“It’s a tight schedule. If we get planning permission through, which we are expecting to get, we will then start building at the beginning of November and we’ve got until March 31 to get it all done.”