George Elokobi will never forget Maidstone’s history-making run in the FA Cup.

United lost 5-0 at Championship side Coventry in the last 16 on Monday night.

But it was a time for celebration as players and staff remained on the pitch long after the final whistle.

They savoured the moment with travelling fans at the end of a remarkable journey that started in the second qualifying round at Steyning in mid-September.

The Stones won seven matches to reach the fifth round proper, including victories over Football League sides Barrow, Stevenage and Ipswich.

Boss Elokobi and his team were never going to let the moment pass at the CBS Arena.

“We said we wanted to make it historic,” said Elokobi.

“Win, lose or draw, we’ve always been winners.

“How can you not savour that at the end there with our supporters who kept cheering us, driving us and supporting the players?

“To see the numbers that stayed back, that shows you they are super-proud of our players and now we can make sure we have those moments in history.

“No one can take this away from us, nobody.

“We are Maidstone United Football Club, we are Maidstone community as a whole.

“We’ve created so many beautiful moments and it’s not just for our community, it’s globally.

“We’ve inspired so many around the world in how we’ve gone about it and we’ve done that again today.

“We take defeat with pride but at the same time we congratulate Coventry City because they were worthy winners.

“They showed us every bit of respect in their preparation, in how they went about it from the start of the game and also how they finished the game.

“These are the moments that I as a manager have to learn from.

“I have to aspire to bring these sort of standards back to Maidstone, like we’ve already done, like we’re doing and it’s only going to put us in good stead going forward.”

So many moments stand out for Elokobi over the course of their FA Cup adventure.

He added: “I think every round we’ve played, there’s always a key moment that you look back and go, ‘Yes, this was the moment’.

“We wanted to progress in every single game that we played in the FA Cup.

“This game, we wanted to progress, but unfortunately you can’t win them all.

“We met a better team and they punished us in every mistake we made and these are the levels that we have been preaching to our group of players.

“If you make mistakes in key moments of the game, these good players will punish you.

“That’s why they’re in the Championship and that’s why we’re in National League South.

“There are so many positive moments to take from the game and we have to ensure we look at those positives and remind the players of how far we’ve come as a group.

“To inspire so many people around the Maidstone community, to touch people around the world with our FA Cup story, it’s been tremendous for us.

“But for me, as a manager, the most important, valuable lesson is humility, respect, in everywhere you go, in how you play the game, towards your opposition, in defeat, in victory.

“We have to enjoy the highs and we have to enjoy the lows so those are the things I’m taking with me as manager and hopefully we’ll be back again next FA Cup campaign.”