Hayrettin hails Maidstone’s attitude as they advance to FA Cup second round

Posted Sunday, November 10, 2019 by PA

Maidstone boss Hakan Hayrettin hailed his side’s performance and attitude after they dumped National League Torquay United out of the FA Cup.

Dan Wishart’s first-half goal handed Maidstone a surprise 1-0 win as the National League South side made it into the second round of the FA Cup.

The home side broke through after just 18 minutes as Wishart’s low driven ball was deflected into the net.

“It was a tough game, a tough encounter against an in-form team who play really good football,” he said.

“I think we were the better team and we deserved to win.

“We nullified them. I know their manager Gary Johnson, I have played for their manager. We hope that we have learnt lessons from today that we can take into the league going forward.

“We’ve been here for a little while. We’re building bricks. We’re not going to win every game but if we play like that, we’re going to be where we want to be.”

Both sides failed to do enough with their second-half pressure in the rain, and ultimately time fell away in favour of the home team.

Torquay manager Gary Johnson added: “We’re always disappointed to go out of the cup, but credit to Maidstone.

“They were the better team on the day. We did not really get our game going and Maidstone got their game going.

“They got their goal early and we couldn’t seem to wrestle it back. All we can do is forget about it now, be disappointed for a couple of days, and then start working on our form again.

“We were a bit slow today in our game and Maidstone played it very well.”