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Hakan Hayrettin can feel history repeating itself after Maidstone’s sparkling win at Oxford City.
Head coach Hayrettin and head of football John Still saw their side move up to eighth in National League South after a dominant 4-1 away win against in-form City.
Hayrettin felt the Stones’ FA Cup exit at Blackpool galvanised the squad and they produced the type of performance that reminded him of years gone by.
The hosts had Ben Jefford sent off in the first half but Maidstone were already well on top.
Hayrettin said: “They’re the in-form team in the league, we’ve had them watched, we’ve done our due diligence and the disappointment of last week probably made the squad stronger and more united.
“I think the result was a true reflection even though they went down to 10 men.
"I thought we were outstanding for long periods of the game and deserved the three points.
“We need that consistency now. Whenever I’ve worked with John, Christmastime’s very vital, very important to us, because that’s when we build our momentum even more.”
With Ibby Akanbi (hamstring) sidelined, Matt McClure marked his return to the starting line-up with two goals, while widemen Dan Wishart and Justin Amaluzor started and finished the scoring respectively.
The one downside was Oxford’s second-half equaliser after an error on the edge of the Maidstone box.
It proved no more than a blip as the visitors quickly regained the lead and pulled clear.
Still said: “I thought the team were good, the two midfield players controlled the game, both wide people got up close around the box every time we attacked and scored or tried to supply.
“We had a mix-up for their goal but I thought we could have scored six or seven today, on our performance.
“It’s a good performance away from home and we have to just keep improving."
Maidstone host Chippenham in a rearranged home game on Tuesday night.
A win would see them move into the play-off places should Hemel fail to beat Weymouth.
Hayrettin said: “We said the next two games after Blackpool would be vital.
“We’ve beaten Oxford and we need to get those three points against Chippenham.
“It’s a catch-up game, we need to build on what we’ve done here.
“It’s important we do that, even more so because we’re at home and we want to keep our home run going.”
