Maidstone United manager George Elokobi feels he has the squad to cope with early-season injuries | Hampton & Richmond next up for the Stones

George Elokobi won’t rush anyone back from injury as Maidstone prepare for their first midweek match of the season.

The Stones, beaten 2-1 by Truro at the weekend, host Hampton & Richmond tonight (7.45pm).

They lost Jordan Higgs and Charlie Seaman in the opening-day win at St Albans, to add to several pre-season knocks.

The pair are progressing but will only return when they are ready.

“Higgs is making a speedy recovery but I don’t want to put any pressure on anyone to come back too soon because it’s a long season,” said Stones manager Elokobi.

“Seaman is making good progress as well and we have to make sure we look after them.

“We’re not a two-man team, we have a squad and others have to make sure they keep putting in the performances and then when the players are back they have to fight for their shirt.

“We have to trust the squad we’ve got and believe in them.

“We’re a squad and we have to make everyone feel included, like we did in pre-season.

“Everyone’s going to have their time to show what they can do.”

Hampton picked up their first point of the season in a 1-1 draw at Chelmsford on Saturday.

They’re generally one of the stronger sides in the division.

“It’s about making sure we prepare right,” said Elokobi.

“We’ve got our scouting reports from their pre-season games and also their first two league games and we’ll feed those back to our players.

“We’ll try to analyse and make sure we give them as much information as possible so they can use it apply themselves on Tuesday night.”