New Maidstone United manager George Elokobi on 2-1 National League defeat by Woking

George Elokobi had no issue with the amount of stoppage time as Maidstone suffered a late defeat against Woking.

The Cards scored in the sixth of seven added minutes to pinch a 2-1 National League win at the Gallagher Stadium yesterday.

Seven minutes seemed excessive but new boss Elokobi, stepping up from his caretaker role, had no arguments.

“I told our players they have to play for 97-100 minutes and I was right in saying that,” he said.

“The officials add the time and you’ve got to stay in the game.

"That time is given for both teams. If I’m being totally fair, if we were a goal down or we were pushing for a winner and we scored that late, we’d all be celebrating.

“But they got the goal and all credit to them for how much they pushed us, and we couldn’t hold on.

"It’s another lesson learned and a lesson we need to take on board in how to be more resilient next time and stay in the game and get something out of a game that our performance as individuals and collectively as a team deserved.”

Maidstone are 14 points from safety with seven games remaining after losing to third-placed Woking.

Defeat was harsh on the hosts who saw Josh Shonibare’s classy opener wiped out by Pardraig Amond’s double.

Cards boss Darren Sarll praised Elokobi’s side at full-time and Woking officials felt they were fortunate to win.

Pats on the back are nice but Elokobi wants points after Maidstone’s winless run in the league reached 18 games.

“That’s a compliment we keep getting week in, week out,” said Elokobi.

“We love to hear that but at the same time we don’t like to hear it.

"We got complimented by their manager, to tell the boys well done and how well we played but we don’t want a pat on the back, we want to earn three points and that’s