Skipper Jerome Binnom-Williams has spoken of his respect for caretaker boss George Elokobi as Maidstone look to build on their FA Trophy exploits.

Maidstone produced their best performance this season in a 4-0 win at Eastleigh last weekend, setting up a home Quarter-Final against Barnet next month.

They need to take that form into their National League survival bid, with a trip to relegation rivals Oldham next up this Saturday (3pm).

Caretaker boss Elokobi has got the players believing and they travel to Boundary Park in good spirits despite sitting eight points from safety at the foot of the table.

“George was our captain last year and he felt a like a gaffer to me then,” said Binnom-Williams.

“I always speak to him and it’s the same this year.

“I respect him as a man. I see him as a big brother to me.

“When he speaks, I have to listen to him. He doesn’t take any nonsense but he respects us, too.

“He respects us as players and if we have something to say, he’ll listen to us. He’ll have the final say, obviously, but he’ll still listen and see where can change things.

“We respect him and the boys are happy. He’s put smiles on a lot of the boys’ faces.

“He brings good energy, especially with Ryan Gordon as well.

“He said this is our life, we’ve got to enjoy it.

“You’re going to have bad days in football but if we keep working hard and playing with a smile and enjoying ourselves, how can you beat that? You can’t.

“He’s put a good team spirit in and we all want to do well and get out of the situation we’re in.

“It feels like we’re all taking responsibility.”

Binnom-Wiliams completed the scoring at Eastleigh with a cracking strike into the top corner.

It was his second goal in successive weeks following an injury-time equaliser at Yeovil as Maidstone ended a run of nine straight league defeats with a 2-2 draw.

Binnom-Williams felt the Eastleigh performance had been on the cards.

“I think it’s been coming for the last few weeks,” he said.

“We’ve fallen short a few times but I feel we’ve been playing well.

“Since the gaffer’s come in, he’s made us be more calm and got us playing football and got us in a good shape.

“To score four goals and get a clean sheet, I thought the boys did brilliantly.

“We hoped this win would come in the league but we’ve got another game at Oldham to put in a performance and I know the gaffer will keep us right in training and we’ll be working hard to make sure we do that.

“We know how football is, it’s on the day, but we’re going to be going there with confidence.

“We’ve got 15 games to go and we feel we can get something out of all of them.

“You never know in football but we’re ready to go and you can see that in our performances even though we’ve fallen short in some games. That’s just how it is.

“We’re still fighting and we can see the fans are behind us.”

Binnom-Williams has been captain since Gavin Hoyte dislocated his shoulder in November.

He’s taken to the role, helped by his team-mates.

“It’s been good,” he said. “The boys are helping me through it. I’m human, so some days I’m going to be down, and that’s when they give me a lift.

“It’s good being captain but it feels like everybody is a captain out there. All the boys are behind me.

“If I’m not doing my job they’ll tell me and vice-versa.”