George Elokobi has seen the improvement in Maidstone United since they last played at the Gallagher Stadium. The Stones host Taunton this afternoon (3pm) in what is their first home game since opening the National League South season with a 2-1 victory over Slough on August 5.
Delayed building works to install a new matchday control room and toilet block resulted in a run of four successive away games and they can’t wait to be back in front of their home crowd.
Elokobi’s new-look side are another three weeks down the line in their development and the boss hopes that will reflect in their performance.
United lost 3-0 at Bath in their second game of the season but are unbeaten since then, winning 2-1 at Braintree and picking up creditable 1-1 draws at Yeovil and Hemel Hempstead. “There’s been a lot of improvements since the opening day,” said Elokobi. “A lot of our players are beginning to show what they can do. “It’s been good to see a few of them get off the mark in the away games but it’s not just the goalscorers, we’ve seen good performances from players like Devonte Aransibia and Connor Kelly. “It’s down to me to keep rotating the squad and keep everyone fresh and hungry. “As a management team, we left one or two out for a reason at Hemel because we have another game 48 hours later and we have to ensure the team is fresh going into the Taunton game.” Eight points from the opening five matches, with only one defeat, represents a solid start after relegation.