It comes as the club was visited by the FA Cup trophy itself today, as the stones once again faced the national press.
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00:00 For Maidstone boss George Elokobi has preached a message of belief ahead of his side's huge
00:05 fifth round FA Cup tie against Coventry City next week. It comes as the club was visited by the FA
00:11 Cup trophy itself today as the Stones once again faced the national press. Well I'm joined now by
00:18 our reporter Bartholomew Hall who was lucky enough to be at the Gallagher Stadium today.
00:22 Bartholomew what was that like and what did you learn in today's press conference?
00:26 Well what it was like it was the atmosphere was buzzing there but what we've learned is that
00:31 Maidstone United despite having gone through this whole thing twice now after going up against
00:35 Ipswich in the fourth round is they're still not used to all of this it's still a foreign thing for
00:41 for a club of their size to have the national press come down and we've got some flashing images
00:46 here because of the amount of press that were there today but we can see George Elokobi going
00:51 around and shaking the hands of every single journalist, every photographer, every camera operator
00:56 there really just savouring the moment and appreciating that what he has taken his side to
01:02 and the stage that they're now at is extraordinary and it's not something we'd expect to see. Just 16
01:07 sides left in the FA Cup this season if you think about the the great Premier League sides of London
01:13 like Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Tottenham, West Ham all gone now out of this competition
01:19 where Maidstone still stand and lots of other huge sides as well that haven't gone as far as
01:25 Maidstone in this this year's tournament. Now let's hear from George Elokobi because he had quite the
01:30 message for his players and about his players too. We look back and we just see in terms of the
01:36 share the gravity of the celebration it gives you goosebumps like you're looking at them celebrating
01:43 individually what it meant to them at the time and what it means to them now you know that's why we
01:48 go out we work as hard as we can we know we are the underdogs and we know we have to be lucky on
01:53 the day but it's important that you know we show that gratitude to them so I owe a lot to them.
01:59 It's a historic day like I keep going back to it and what's not there to enjoy what's not there to
02:04 savour we need to make sure we go out there and prepare the players put no pressure on them
02:10 whatever the outcome they just need to believe in themselves and enjoy the day and
02:14 our jobs as the management team is to ensure that that happens. That's it believe believe that's the
02:20 message that he's been giving to his players since the start of this tournament really that's what's
02:24 brought them here and it's clearly worked. You saw the FA Cup on the table there you might have also
02:28 seen another person there Craig Fagan he's the assistant manager former Hull City player he's
02:34 been with the club this season both of them actually him himself and George it's their first
02:38 full season as managers and assistant manager but they've been together through this whole journey
02:43 and they really do work well together I saw them in training today they work like a proper unit a
02:48 proper pairing exactly what you'd want and we can hear from him now because he spoke a lot about
02:53 the expectations of his side. Listen it's been a great journey for the whole group for the whole
02:59 club not just ourselves just the fact that we've got to this point in the in the cup nobody would
03:05 bet on us being this far in the competition the lads have done tremendous yes maybe a little bit
03:13 of luck in the last round where Ipswich have hit the post twice but if you look at the quality of
03:17 our both our goals that day we deserve to to go through. Well best of luck to Maidstone from everyone.