George Elokobi is determined to get to the bottom of Maidstone’s goal drought before they return to action.

The Stones are without a game this weekend following their early exit from the FA Cup.

That gives them more time on the training ground to address issues in front of goal after failing to score in a run of four successive defeats in league and cup.

Manager Elokobi signed three attacking players before last weekend’s 1-0 National League South loss against Maidenhead, with Antony Papadopoulos rejoining on loan from Crawley, and Kweku Lucan and Hamzad Kargbo also on board.

The trio will have had time to settle in by the time Maidstone visit surprise strugglers Dagenham & Redbridge next Saturday.

And Elokobi also needs more from those who’ve been at the Gallagher Stadium since the start of the season.

“You have to look at our forward line, you have to look at the dynamic,” he said.

“We’re getting in areas but are we actually hurting the opposition?

“I don’t think so because we haven’t scored for four games, and even when we do create those chances, we aren’t taking them.

“In the second half against Maidenhead, we had one clear chance and we should have scored.

“Other teams don’t let us off the hook - they put it in the back of the net.

“Is it a confidence thing? Is it belief?

“I don’t know because if you can hear us in the technical area, we want more from the players.

“We want them to be more intense with their play and believe more in front of goal, we want them to take shots, we want them to follow in and be on the front foot.

“But that’s lacking a little bit at the moment.

“However, it’s our job to make sure, with the new recruits and the ones that have been here with us, that we keep going at it.”

It’s easy for a lack of goals to get in players’ heads and become a psychological issue as much as anything.

Once the first one goes in, it could make all the difference.

Elokobi said: “We’ve been here before, not too many times, but it only takes that one goal and everyone is being positive and feeling a buzz about themselves and the energy level goes up.

“But again, we have to find that, we have to do it on the pitch.

“It comes from within, it comes from individuals, it can’t just come from the management team.

“We’ve got to find those right moments to run in the right areas, to stretch the opposition, to make sure we’ve got runners running without the ball, because that’s important.

“We’ll keep driving the standards.”

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