Maidstone midfielder Jack Powell can't play against his former club Ebbsfleet on Tuesday night.

Powell must sit out tomorrow's Kent derby at Stonebridge Road as part of the deal that took him to the Gallagher Stadium.

United agreed to the clause to ensure they got the transfer completed.

Manager Harry Wheeler said: "He can’t play. It was part of the agreement when he came in, with what we got him for and stuff.

"He can play in the return game here and if we draw them in the FA Trophy or FA Cup.

"It was written into the deal. It was a way of getting him quicker and getting it done.

"It was something we had to do and in the long run it’ll pay off for us."

Wheeler says Fleet's money issues are nothing to do with Maidstone.

The squad have been paid late in seven of the past 10 months and are still waiting on their October money.

But Wheeler won't be jumping on Fleet's financial situation going into the game.

He said: "It’s not our business. It’s up to them. It’s not nice for the manager and stuff like that but sometimes this happens.

"They’ve a had a decent draw at Salford and they had a good win last week in the FA Cup, so it hasn’t affected them so far.

"If you try to use something like that to say they're down on their luck, then you're making assumptions.

"You can’t make assumptions. They might not be. They might be fighting for each other and the manager.

"We’ve just got to get ourselves right and not worry about anyone else."

Ebbsfleet are vulnerable at home, though, winning only once this season and conceding the first goal in all eight league games at Stonebridge Road.

Wheeler said: "It’s something we can try and push and capitalise on but they might be saying we gift goals away and if they’re looking at the Solihull game, I wouldn’t argue with them, so we’ve got to get ourselves right.

"It'll be tough, as derbies are, but probably a good end-to-end footballing game."