Maidstone United skipper Sam Corne lays out his National League South title ambitions

Maidstone United captain Sam Corne has set his sights on winning the National League South title this season.

The Stones are just outside the play-off places, in eighth, after beating Kent rivals Ebbsfleet 3-0 on Tuesday night.

They’re nine points behind leaders Hornchurch, a team they’ve beaten this season, with 19 games remaining, and Corne is aiming high.

He knows what it takes after his starring role in United’s 2022 championship success under Hakan Hayrettin.

Corne spoke of his title ambitions after the win over Ebbsfleet, which came on the second anniversary of his winning goal in Maidstone’s FA Cup fourth-round triumph at Ipswich.

“A few people messaged me about the Ipswich anniversary,” said Corne, who’s set to lead the side out at Tonbridge this Saturday (3pm).

“It will forever live in the memory of myself, my family and the Maidstone fans.

“But now that’s gone we want to achieve more and hopefully results like tonight can help us win this league.

“Maidstone’s a big club and as long as I’ve been here we’ve been looking to achieve that.

“We’ve done that in the past and we’ve been close, within touching distance, so hopefully we can do it this year.

“We’re in a great position, we’ve got plenty of games left, plenty of points to play for, we have an aim of points we want to reach to get us over the line.

“If that’s not first place, then play-offs come secondary, so fingers crossed we can do it.

“As a player I’ve always wanted to win stuff and every time we go on the pitch we go out to get three points.

“If we have that same mentality going into every game, the likelihood is we should have good outcomes.”

Corne is one of two survivors from the title-winning side, along with George Fowler, while George Elokobi, who