More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Hakan Hayrettin felt Maidstone were the better team in their Kent derby at Ebbsfleet.
Hayrettin was proud of his players for the way they bounced back from the disappointment of Saturday’s defeat by National South leaders Dartford.
The Stones have generally struggled in Kent derbies over recent years but produced a decent display in a goalless draw at Stonebridge Road last night.
Boss Hayrettin said: “If you saw the game we had the better chances, we pushed till the end to get the winner.
“We’ve got some really tired legs out there after two local derbies in a short space of time.
“Our players gave us everything they had today and were an absolute credit.
“I thought we were better than them, I thought we started better than them, I thought we were on the front foot and then maybe they got a bit of pressure in the second half, but I thought over the 90 minutes we created more problems for them than they did for us.
“I think their keeper made four or five good saves, our keeper made one, we put the ball in the box a lot more than they did.
“It was a game that ebbed and flowed and went from end to end but if you analyse the game I’m pretty sure they would say the same thing, that we had the better chances and on another day we could have won 2-0.
"But, saying that, on the back of a 2-0 defeat, we’ve come back and done well.
"A point here, away from home, we’ll take that.
“Whenever you play local derbies it’s going to be tense, it’s going to be fiery, it’s going to be 100mph.
“I’m very proud of the boys, very proud of the performance, very proud that we didn’t lose after Saturday, which is important to me.
“I’ve always said this, and I’ll say it again, this month’s probably going to be our most important month but overall I’m very pleased.
“Ebbsfleet are a good team but our boys deserve a lot of credit tonight, they were absolutely fantastic.
“They worked their socks off and thoroughly deserved more than a point.”
