Maidstone’s extraordinary FA Cup run was ended by a clinical Coventry side at the CBS Arena on Monday night.

City striker Ellis Simms scored a first-half hat-trick to end the Stones’ chances of another upset to go with wins over Barrow, Stevenage and Ipswich.

And Fabio Tavares added a late double as the Sky Blues reached the last eight.

The visitors, backed by 4,800 fans behind the goal, gave everything they had, but the Sky Blues proved a step too far for George Elokobi’s FA Cup heroes.

Coventry, winners in 1987, hadn’t reached the quarter-finals since 2009 and were determined to take their chance against a Stones side 95 places below them in the football pyramid.

Maidstone, the first team outside the fifth tier to reach the last 16 since Blyth Spartans in 1978, made two changes to the side who won at Ipswich in round four.

They both came in defence with Reiss Greenidge in for the suspended Paul Appiah and Raphe Brown replacing skipper Gavin Hoyte at right-back.

Maidstone somehow weathered an early storm at Portman Road and while they probably saw more of the ball here in the opening stages, this time they fell behind to an early goal.

There had been an early warning sign when Lucas Covolan denied Haji Wright in the box after three minutes.

The Championship promotion hopefuls made no mistake from their next opening in the ninth minute.

Kasey Palmer, the best player on the pitch, slipped a neat pass into Simms’ path and he clipped the ball past Covolan.

Maidstone’s response was pretty good, with crosses from Liam Cole and Harry Kyprianou on either flank, but a second goal for the Sky Blues followed in the 14th minute.

The same combination did the trick again as Simms ran across his man from Palmer’s pass and beat Covolan, triggering a change in system by Elokobi.

Sole picked up possession several times in Coventry’s attacking third and he had Maidstone’s first shot on goal on 26 minutes, bending the ball over after Sam Corne and Lamar Reynolds combined to feed George Fowler for a cross.

With Coventry continuing to move the ball well, and at speed, there was no way they were settling for 2-0.

Tavares went close on the volley after the hosts forced three successive corners and that was followed by a clinching third goal in the 35th minute.

Palmer’s shot from distance was parried by Covolan and Simms pounced to complete his hat-trick.

Covolan denied half-time substitute Callum O’Hare shortly after the restart before a neat spell of possession from Maidstone ended with Reynolds hitting the side-netting after a lovely bit of trickery from Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong in the build-up.

The outcome was beyond doubt but, as you’d expect from an Elokobi side, Maidstone refused to throw in the towel, forcing four corners inside 15 minutes of the second half.

And Stones fans had some fun at the other end after Covolan dummied a couple of City attackers before clearing the ball, as only a Brazilian goalkeeper can.

There were further shots from the distance for Covolan to deal with although by now it seemed Coventry were happy to declare at three, with the pace of the game dropping.

However, a smart finish from Tavares made it 4-0 with two minutes left.

And he added his second with an injury-time tap-in.

Coventry: Wilson, Thomas, Kelly, Simms (Godden 67mins), Wright (O’Hare 46mins), Kitching, Bidwell (Dasilva 78mins), Latibeaudiere, Torp (Eccles 67mins), Tavares, Palmer (van Ewijk 67mins). Subs not used: Bell, Binks, Lusala, Andrews.

Maidstone: Covolan, Brown (Hoyte 69mins), Fowler, Greenidge, Kyprianou (Ezennolim 69mins), Corne, Bone, Berkeley-Agyepong (Iandolo 87mins), Sole (Gurung 69mins), Duku (Court 79mins), Reynolds. Subs not used: Earle, Smith.

Referee: Michael Salisbury.

Attendance: 26,857.