Maidstone United have learned from experience and will handle Alex Flisher with care after he kickstarted his latest comeback with a stunning late winner.

Flisher, making just his second appearance since December after recovering from hamstring problems, struck in the third minute of injury time to give United a 2-1 win over Gosport on Saturday.

The second-half substitute scored from outside the area to give Stones a fourth win in five and edge them three points clear of third-placed Sutton in the National League South play-off battle.

Flisher returned ahead of schedule last October after more than nine months out with a serious knee injury but Stones feel they overplayed him and won’t make the same mistake.

Maidstone manager Jay Saunders said: “When you have knee problems you tend to find your hamstrings react.

“Maybe we played him too many games on the bounce at the start.

“At the time he felt okay. In hindsight maybe we should have managed him a little bit better and played him in one or two and then pulled him out.

“But he was doing quite well and we did feel the only way to really get his fitness - he needed to lose a bit of weight and get a bit of sharpness - was to give him games. In hindsight it was probably bad management.”

Flisher sent the Gallagher Stadium wild with his thumping late winner against Gosport, who had a Bobby-Joe Taylor own goal to thank for cancelling out Jamie Coyle’s header.

Saunders added: “Flish has got that in his locker. How many times have I seen him stick it in that bottom corner?

“And when it broke to him, in that area on the edge of the box, there’s probably no one else at the club you’d rather have that fall to, and it’s a great strike. I’m delighted for him.

“I had a few people saying to me ‘Flish is back’ and I hope he is because with 15/16 games remaining he’ll be a massive player for us.”

Second-placed Maidstone are now four points clear of Gosport, in fourth, with a game a hand.

Saunders said: “A draw would have felt like a loss because other than the long shot that hit the bar, I don’t think they’ve really troubled us.

“The goal we conceded was one of those freak incidents and you think ‘how’s that going to cost us?’ but we kept going to the end, we didn’t give up and managed to get the winner we deserved.”