Lexus Beeden received the plaudits from manager George Elokobi after Maidstone beat Salisbury on Saturday.
Elokobi felt Beeden’s display at centre-half epitomised everything he asked of his side at the Gallagher Stadium.
The former Farnborough man helped the hosts to a welcome clean sheet as United, who won 1-0 through TJ Bramble’s spectacular second-half overhead kick, recovered from back-to-back National League South defeats.
Victory moves them up to eighth place, only two points behind Dorking in the final play-off spot.
It was just a fourth home league win this season and one built on defensive resilience and doing the basics well.
“A win is a win and we needed to stop the rot in terms of defeats, and if we’re going to do anything this season, we’ve got to try and win as many home games as possible,” said Elokobi.
“Could we have been better in terms of our attacking play?
“We could be better, however, we have to look at it and we have to look at the personnel in terms of the strategy we deployed and I thought the bonus was we kept a clean sheet.
“We asked the players to be very effective defensively and I thought they did that.
“For the tactics to work, in terms of the culture and the team principles, each and every player has to run hard for one another.
“I asked the boys this. I told them I wanted to see a team that was connected, I wanted to see a team of warriors, I wanted to see a team that was courageous, I wanted to see a team that would encourage one another.
“And I thought today there’s one player that stood out - Lexus Beeden epitomised that today.
“He was absolutely superb. He led by example and the rest followed him.”
Elokobi and assistant manager Craig Fagan stayed up late into the night after
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