Maidstone are treating their trip to Truro as a trial run for the play-offs.

United are making the 300-mile journey to Cornwall on Saturday by plane, setting off for Gatwick at 6.30am.

The decision was taken at the start of the season but with the teams likely to meet again in the National League South play-offs next month, manager Jay Saunders has some thinking to do.

Stones look set to finish third with Truro fourth, which will mean a long midweek trip for the first leg on Wednesday, May 4.

Saunders said: “It’s pretty much guaranteed we’ve got Truro in the play-offs, so the flying is something we’ve got to look at. We’ll see how it works on Saturday and if it doesn’t, then we’ve got to decide what to do.

“Dartford flew there last week and speaking to Tony Burman and Deren Ibrahim, they were saying it’s a bit of a nightmare and what a long day it is.”

Joe Healy is out with a knee injury while Callum Driver has been advised to rest a bruised foot following an X-ray but could yet feature. Tom Mills returns from suspension, while Alex Flisher and Vas Karagiannis are fit again.

Saunders criticised his side after the derby defeat by Dartford last weekend but feels he went over the top.

He said: “On reflection I got caught up in the moment a bit. We had six first-choice players out for different reasons and it caught up with us."