New loan signing Taylor Foran wasted no time confirming what an asset he should be for Maidstone United.

Centre-back Foran, who’s joined from League 2 Bromley, made his debut as a half-time substitute in the Stones’ 2-1 National League South win at Dagenham on Saturday.

He replaced key defender George Fowler, who was struggling with an ankle injury, and proved a commanding presence as United won for the first time in six league games.

The former Arsenal youngster looked a class act at the back and, for a 21-year-old making his first appearance, was impressively vocal.

Foran had caught the eye playing against Maidstone for Chesham last season.

And with David Agbontohoma suffering a back injury in training last week, his arrival at the Gallagher Stadium is timely.

“He was brilliant when he came on,” said Stones manager George Elokobi.

“These are the qualities we saw last season when he was at Chesham.

“He was outstanding against a very lively forward line in Aaron Blair and the rest that played on the day, and he did exceptionally well in terms of his leadership qualities.

“We kept an eye on him and wanted to make sure we were on the hunt if he was available to bring him in, to give us that defensive solidity that we’ve lacked.

“It’s just to give healthy competition.

“We had that last season where we had four centre-halves.

“But also David Agbontohoma finished training on Thursday, went home and had a serious back injury.

“We don’t know the extent of it but it wasn’t us dropping him, it was the right timing to bring Taylor in.

“We’ve always been looking to bolster the defensive area and he became available and we knew he was one of our targets.”

Foran could make his first start when Maidstone host Chesham this Saturday (3pm), should Fowler not recover in time and with Agbontohoma seemingly out of action.

But captain Sam Corne, who missed the Dagenham game with a dead leg, should be fine after featuring in Maidstone’s 3-0 Kent Senior Cup win at Herne Bay on Tuesday night.

Teo Kurtaran made his first league start in Corne’s absence and scored a brilliant 25-yard winner as Maidstone ended a run of four successive defeats in all competitions.

Kurtaran’s hard work on the training ground paid off.

“Technically, he’s one of the better strikers of the ball I’ve seen,” said Elokobi. “It’s effortless.

“He hits them well but also these goals are credit to Teo and some of the boys at the training ground.

“They’re always staying back in training, keeping us out for longer than we should be because they want to be doing finishing practice.

“So it’s about practising behind closed doors, consistency, making sure they’re developing those abilities, and they’re improving day by day.

“We’ve seen those strikes countless times in training from Teo, and he’s a dead-ball specialist as well.

“He’d got in an area in the first half where the defender or midfielder made a great block and at half-time we reinforced those points, to break the lines and shoot from distance, because you can hit them well.

“We said make sure you hit the target and he’s produced that.

“I was delighted with his performance.

“He’s still getting fitter, but he’s technically very good, nice and calm on the ball and he gives us that platform to maintain possession in the middle of the park, like we want to do.”

Ruben Carvalho scored twice, with Sam Oguntayo also on target in Maidstone’s Kent Senior Cup second-round success at Herne Bay.

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