Dan Wishart says he is 100% committed to Maidstone after his unexpected midweek appearance.

The defender was transfer-listed following United's relegation to National League South after telling head of football John Still he wanted to stay at a higher level.

Still signed Noah Chesmain and Luke Pennell as replacements and said he wouldn't play Wishart unless he had to.

But he was named on the bench at Welling on Tuesday and came on for the injured Jonny Edwards at half-time.

Wishart said: "I was asked a question at the end of last year and I was honest and said I wanted to play as high as I could.

"I've kept myself fit, I've kept myself sharp, and I just wanted to take my chance when I got it.

"I'm not as sharp as I want to be - obviously I haven't played a lot of games - but I'm here and I want to do well for the club.

"I played League 2 football not that long ago and I wanted to stay as close to League 2 football as I could.

"It hasn't happened and I've just had to graft to stay in contention.

"Since the first day of pre-season I've been 100% committed.

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"I'm as professional as they come.

"I've just grafted even though I probably knew I wasn't going to be involved.

"I've still done everything professionally and it's got me back in the side.

"I'm involved in everything and the management have looked after me.

"It's not like they're sending me to go running round a field on my own."

There's been interest but no one has matched Wishart's Maidstone deal.

He said: "I don't just want to go anywhere. It's a difficult one.

"A lot of clubs are not really looking to spend what they were spending.

"I'm on a contract here where I'm happy with it and I couldn't really financially go somewhere else.

"I've got responsibilities, I've got a lot of things outside football that I've got to look after."

Wishart likes the look of Maidstone's new squad, describing skipper George Elokobi as the leader they lacked last season, and is confident results will come after starting with two defeats.

He said: "I think this is a good team. You'll see a change in results - we're very close.

"I think there's an improvement on last year, to be honest.

"Everyone knows George is a big personality.

"He asks a lot of the boys and they are willing to go that extra yard.

"We didn't have that last year.

"We didn't have a leader where you wanted to follow in his footsteps.

"We had a screamer or a shouter in there and some younger players don't really like that."

Maidstone go to Hungerford tomorrow.

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