Maidstone United manager Hakan Hayrettin desperate to get injured players back

Hakan Hayrettin says he’s never known an injury list like the one he’s contending with at Maidstone.

Joe Ellul returned against Chesterfield last week but the Stones still have seven players out.

Joan Luque (knee/hernia), Jerome Binnom-Williams (knee), Raphe Brown (ankle), Hady Ghandour (adductor muscle), Sol Wanjau-Smith (knee), Josh Fawole (ankle) and Henry Woods (hamstring) are the sidelined players.

Manager Hayrettin doesn’t know when they will be back and while he’s not one to blame injuries, it’s a challenging period for the Stones as they adapt to life back in the National League.

“I’ve never known anything like it,” said Hayrettin.

“Five of those players would be contenders to start. That’s a big percentage and massive for a club like us to deal with.

"I’m pushing everybody to the maximum but I’ve never known anything like it. It’s constant.

"I don’t usually use injuries as an excuse but the quicker we get these players back, the quicker people can see the full potential of what we’ve got.

“Some of these are long-term injuries.

“I don’t think anyone’s back imminently, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Maidstone have slipped to 16th after three defeats in their past four games, five points off the play-off places but also only three points off the bottom.

They travel to high-flying Boreham Wood on Saturday for the live BT Sport game (5.20pm) and visit Hayrettin’s former club, Barnet, on Tuesday (7.45pm).