Maidstone United manager George Elokobi feels for Raphe Brown after red card at Slough rules him out of Ipswich FA Cup tie

George Elokobi vowed to take care of Raphe Brown after a red card ruled him out of Maidstone’s FA Cup tie at Ipswich.

Defender Brown, a half-time substitute, was sent off after picking up two bookings in a 2-1 defeat at Slough yesterday.

He can face Braintree on Tuesday night but will serve a one-match ban at Portman Road next weekend.

Brown previously faced missing the Stones’ third-round tie against Stevenage after he was sent off at Tonbridge but his second yellow that day was overturned on grounds of mistaken identity.

There will be no reprieve this time and you could only feel for Brown as he made his way off after overstretching in his attempts to beat Slavi Spasov to the ball.

“I’m really, really disappointed for him,” said Stones boss Elokobi.

“He’s an honest lad and we have to ensure we look after him.

“These things do happen. He wasn’t trying to hurt the player, he was just trying to put the ball in behind.

“I don’t think the pass to him was good enough - it left him short.

“We have to put our arms around him. He’ll be back.

“He has to put this behind him. It’s a lesson and he’ll learn from it. We can’t change it. It’s happened. We have to move on.”

Elokobi felt the FA Cup was on his players’ minds at Slough.

They were punished for a slow start as Josh Jackman put the Rebels in front.

And while debutant Mo Faal levelled from the penalty spot, Johnny Goddard scored the winner as Maidstone suffered back-to-back league defeats.

“We are a National League South side and what we’re doing at the minute, with the FA Cup run, it’s going to be a little bit of a distraction, but no excuses,” said Elokobi, whose side remain fourth.

“The players that went out there, did they lose on purpose? No, not by any means.

“They gave