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Maidstone United head coach Hakan Hayrettin explains why he stayed seated in draw at Sutton

Hakan Hayrettin took a back seat in Maidstone’s draw at Sutton on Easter Monday - preferring to observe the action.

Hayrettin remained in the dugout for almost the entire match, leaving coaches Simon Walton and Anwar Uddin to patrol the touchline.

A 2-2 draw confirmed the Stones will finish bottom of the National League and head coach Hayrettin said: “I don’t want to scream and shout too much.

Maidstone United head coach Hakan Hayrettin Picture: Sean Aidan
Maidstone United head coach Hakan Hayrettin Picture: Sean Aidan

“I want to observe and have a look and see if my judgement is correct.

“I’m not going to get anything out of it if I keep blasting out orders they’re not following but we did well to get back in the game and we got a point.”

A pair of Blair Turgott penalties saw Maidstone twice battle back to draw with Sutton.

The U’s were reduced to 10 men with Craig Eastmond sent off for deliberate handball as Turgott scored his first spot-kick early in the second half.

United missed the chance to push on and went 2-1 down before Turgott rescued a point in injury time.

Hayrettin was pleased with the double fightback, less so with Sutton’s two goals.

He said: “The first goal again is a bad goal to concede but we showed a bit to get back and it was definitely a red card, he handballed it and we took advantage.

“We changed the system to try and win it and then they scored.

“It’s bad defending by us, two long balls over the top, the second one was even worse really.

“The first one is one long ball, one mistake by the defender, mix-up, goal.

“If you can’t deal with those balls then there’s a problem, isn’t there?

“Sometimes it’s more difficult to play against 10 men so you’ve just got to be patient.

“Obviously we were pushing to get the goal and again it’s just one long ball.

“I don’t know if Dion (Curtis Henry) actually called the centre-backs or the centre-backs called Dion but he’s come out, he’s hit it first time and it’s gone in.

“We huffed and puffed and got back in it and got something out of the game.”

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