Maidstone United face Championship opponent in FA Cup fifth round

The sixth-tier club will face either Coventry or Sheffield Wednesday in the next round – scroll down to read the draw in full

Maidstone United came agonisingly close to a dream FA Cup tie with Manchester City, but manager George Elokobi said the magic was still alive after drawing either Coventry or Sheffield Wednesday.
“Winnable,” declared Craig Fagan, Elokobi’s assistant, of the draw. With only four balls remaining, Manchester City and Maidstone were yet to be drawn before the National League South side landed Championship opposition.
“My preference was Wolves and it was a draw most of our fans didn’t want,” admitted Elokobi, the former Wolves defender. “But it’s a good draw. We have to go out there and do it all again. The magic is still very much alive.”
Fagan added: “I wanted Liverpool and that’s still on. I played there in the Premier League with Derby and got goose pimples. I even wanted to sing along to You’ll Never Walk Alone. I want our players to walk down that tunnel and into that atmosphere.”
Maidstone’s place in the fifth round banked them £120,000, with a further £225,000 on offer if they upset the odds again after knocking out Premier League hopefuls Ipswich on Saturday. After Lincoln City in 2016-17, they would become only the second non-league club to reach the quarter finals since World War II.
“It’s Coventry – that’s great,” Fagan said. “As a Birmingham boy, I’ve got lots of family in the Midlands who want to see Maidstone play and I want to make a better memory than my last time there, playing for Colchester in the FA Cup in a terrible orange kit. And orange boots.
“At Hillsborough I laid a Hull goal on for Nick Barmby and they’ve got a massive fan base. Whoever it is, neither will want to get beat by little old Maidstone and that might work in our favour.”
Maidstone players partied in their hometown after the triumph at Portman Road and Fagan added: “It would have been foolish to keep them indoors. I’m hearing they didn’t just drink water.
“I’ve got a two-year-old now and I knew I’d be getting slapped about first thing in the morning. I watched the game to see everyone else’s reaction to see what it meant to the staff and the fans. I’ve only been here a year, but I can see how happy we’re making people in the area. That’s why, when myself and George go into work, our greeting is ‘good morning history makers’.”
One man absent from those who gathered to watch the draw at the 4,200-capacity Gallagher Stadium’s clubhouse was Jamaican Lamar Reynolds, scorer of Maidstone’s first and creator of Sam Corne’s winner against Ipswich. He was at work, driving autistic children in a mini-bus.
“I’d liked to have watched the draw with the lads, but I have to work,” he said. “My job is amazing and fulfilling. A lot of people from there will have been watching the game. Hopefully when I check my phone I’ll probably see a few faces pop up from work.”
Punjab United of the Southern Counties East League Premier Division will visit Maidstone for a Kent Cup tie on Tuesday. Another giant-killing may loom.
“We’ve got a target on our backs now,” Fagan said. “We’ve already noticed that other teams are increasing their play against us. Punjab have a point to prove and that’ll make it an interesting game, but there will be changes from Saturday.”