Matt McClure completed the first hat-trick of his career after being dug out at half-time by his bosses.

McClure had already scored twice as Maidstone led St Albans 2-0 at the break but John Still and Hakan Hayrettin needed more from the in-form striker.

He duly delivered, winning the ball off City defender Scott Shulton and brilliantly chipping the keeper for his third goal in United’s 4-0 victory.

The result sent United ninth in National League South - three points outside the play-offs.

Head of football Still said: “The crazy thing is we dug him out at half-time and that’s why he got his other goal.

“We just felt he was switching off when the ball was in transition so if they got the ball we thought he could find a position quicker, which he did, and he was able to press.

“To be fair, I think one goal perhaps the goalie should have done better but the other two were good and the last finish was top quality.

“Whenever you win, you’re happy. Whenever you score four goals, you’re happy.

“When we get in a vein we can score goals and we can defend but we can’t have a Wealdstone or Dorking performance again. We can’t. We’re better than that. Today was good.”

Sam Corne, back in the starting XI after a knee injury, provided two assists for McClure before sealing victory with his first Stones goal.

It was an impressive performance from the former Ashford man who was playing in a new role on the right.

Still said: “We think we’ve had a slight problem in our wide areas. We haven’t been as good as we’d like to be.

• Match report: Maidstone 4-0 St Albans

“I just said to Hak, ‘shall we have a look at Sam?’

“We had a look at him in training and he looked all right at it.

“He isn’t necessarily going to run past people but he’ll be good in possession and he can just help us bolster midfield a little bit because he’s a natural midfield player. To be fair, he did very well.”

Justin Amaluzor’s return from a rib injury was put on hold but he’s set to feature in an in-house game on Tuesday.

Head coach Hayrettin said: “He’s declared himself fit so the game is mainly for him and the rest of the squad players.”

Read more: The latest sports news in Kent