Maidstone United manager George Elokobi’s verdict on 5-1 National League South defeat at Worthing | Stones boss says Bivesh Gurung must learn from his red card

Maidstone manager George Elokobi was never going to ask his 10 men to sit back and shut up shop at Worthing.

The Stones trailed 3-0 at half-time after having midfielder Bivesh Gurung sent off while a goal down.

But they emerged committed to attack in the second half, a bold approach against a Rebels side who use the ball as well as any team in National League South.

Harry Kyprianou twice went close before Matt Rush pulled a goal back, only for promotion rivals Worthing - beaten 4-0 at the Gallagher Stadium in September - to complete a 5-1 victory.

Elokobi said: “When you’ve had a player sent off, most managers would sit back and allow the opposition to build play and have about a thousand passes but that’s not us, that’s not me as a manager.

“My team knows we are positive in our approach.

“If we’re going to get beat, let’s have a good go and I thought the players who came out in the second half did that.

“Lapses of concentration at set-pieces have ended up costing us another two goals but I can forgive my lads - they’ve been terrific this season.”

Maidstone haven’t lost many games but tend to go down heavily when they do.

They were beaten 3-0 at Bath, 5-2 at Hampton, 4-0 at Barnet in the FA Trophy and now the Worthing result.

“That’s a challenge of being a manager - that’s upon George Elokobi,” said the Stones boss, whose side dropped from second to fourth in the table.

“Am I going to have sleepless nights? Not a chance.

“I know where the problems lie and I’ll try to sort them out. I’ll find solutions.

“That’s our job as a management team.

“We’ll find solutions and we’ll make sure we get the right partnerships all over the pitch for our next game, so we have to go to work straight away.

“Heavy defeats are not ideal but