Manager George Elokobi was pleased by the togetherness shown on and off the pitch on the opening day of Maidstone’s season.

The Stones beat 10-man Slough at the Gallagher to register their first league win since November.

But it was the new wave of optimism that impressed the Stones boss, and he dedicated that welcome win to their fanbase.

“The togetherness of our football club pleased me most about that,” stated Elokobi.

“There was the resilience shown by the group of players who when you’re playing in front of this crowd, some of them are new, they’ve never played in front of a crowd like this so it can be intimidating.

“Not just being at home, there’s always that pressure of it being a must-win. But we all know football is not like that, Slough are a very good side and we showed them respect in our preparation.

“But the most important thing we have to remember is that our group is a new group, we’re gelling and still getting fitter. It’s not just the group of players, our fanbase as well.

“They’ve been wonderful from the minute I walked in as an interim manager up to this very moment. That one is for them - they deserve it.

“It's for Maidstone as a whole, I think we deserve that.”

There were debuts keeper Lucas Covolan, wing-back Liam Sole, midfielders Conor Kelly and Lemar Reynolds along with striker Ogo Obi, who was up against his former club.

But there was also a core of players from last season’s squad who impressed, with Sam Corne a driving force in midfield, George Fowler solid in defence and Sol Wanjau-Smith put in an excellent hour in attack.

The Stones boss also praised match-winner Reiss Greenidge, who started a friendly for Guyana against Ethiopia just two days earlier in the USA.

“You always want to start on a positive,” added Elokobi.

“We knew they were a good side and we limited the chances created against us.

“It’s about being resilient when you don’t play well. It was all about trying to start off with a positive result and we’ve done that.

“We knew how we conceded the goal and we spoke about it at half-time and we knew there was more in us.

“It was a fantastic header from Reiss Greenidge and he’s followed up to finish, so he’s won the first phase and the second phase. He’s just come back from international (duty) and hasn’t had much sleep, we have to recognise that and he’s followed it up with a fantastic performance.

“It’s not just him, everyone we’ve got in the squad has been working hard to ensure this result was a positive one for us.

“When it’s 2-1 the game is never finished, we had to be hard to beat and see the game out and the group did that.”