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Maidstone United manager Hakan Hayrettin unfazed by sack calls and says he's proud of his team after fightback against Yeovil Town

Maidstone manager Hakan Hayrettin will keep working to the best of his ability amid the annual calls for his sacking.

A section of fans made their feelings known, turning on Hayrettin and the owners, before Regan Booty’s injury-time penalty rescued a 1-1 draw at home to Yeovil yesterday.

Maidstone United manager Hakan Hayrettin. Picture: Steve Terrell
Maidstone United manager Hakan Hayrettin. Picture: Steve Terrell

Hayrettin, who led the Stones to the National League South title a matter of months ago, is unfazed by the criticism coming his way after 11 matches without a win in all competitions.

“I’ve been here four seasons,” said Hayrettin.

“Every season I should have been sacked 10 times over, so this isn’t new to me.

“What am I supposed to do? It’s football. You’re never going to get everyone on side.

“You’ve just got to keep doing the job to the best of your ability and me and my staff are working as hard as we possibly can to make things happen.

“If you take your eye off the ball, if you can’t accept what comes with your job and your responsibility, you shouldn’t be involved in the game, should you?

“I accept not everyone’s going to be happy, I accept people are going to question decisions I make.

“You’re never going to please everyone but what you can do is do the best you possibly can.

“I’ve always done that, wherever I’ve been.”

Maidstone are second-bottom of the National League, two points from safety.

But they kept going against fellow strugglers Yeovil, denying the visitors their first away win of the season when Booty scored from the spot in the sixth minute of added time.

Hayrettin took heart from his side’s second-half rally, having trailed to Alex Fisher’s early header.

“We’re a team in progress,” said the manager, who's seen key midfielder Sam Corne (groin) join a lengthy injury list that’s stopped him naming his strongest XI this season.

“We know that we’re not fully functional at the moment, we’re doing our best to turn the fortunes around.

“We showed everyone again in the last 35 minutes what we’re capable of.

“It’s not easy at the moment but we need to keep going.

“I haven’t got a magic wand I can touch every player with and we’re going to be fantastic, sometimes it doesn’t work like that.

“I’m proud of the boys but we’ve got to keep pushing and pulling to get where we want to be and we need everyone behind the club.

“I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, get behind the owners, get behind the club, get behind the team.”

Anyone who glanced towards the dugout before Booty’s penalty would have seen Hayrettin looking the other way.

He couldn’t watch but that’s nothing new.

“I don’t watch penalties,” he said. “I wait for the crowd’s reaction, whoever takes it. I don’t like watching.

“If they score, they’re a hero and if they miss, they’re a villain.

“No one wants to be a villain and I don’t want them to be a villain.

"No one takes a penalty to be a villain and I feel for anyone who does miss because it’s a difficult ask sometimes.”

Maidstone host fourth-placed Solihull Moors on Tuesday.

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