Temi Eweka isn’t surprised to see Maidstone in the National League South play-off final.

The Stones go to Boreham Wood on Sunday (12.30pm) having already negotiated two difficult away games.

They were underdogs at both Worthing and Eastbourne in the eliminator and semi-final stages but recorded 2-0 and 2-1 wins.

The belief in the squad made those results possible and United head into the promotion decider in great spirits.

“If there was any team you knew would be able to do it, it was us,” said centre-half Eweka.

“Away from home, I don’t know what it is, we’re outstanding.

“Because we’re so close-knit and we’re a good bunch of lads, it’s like that gladiator mentality, no one’s going to beat us and we stick together.

“We just find belief in the littlest things.

“At Worthing, it was when I’ve cleared it and Aaron Blair’s gone through and held it up and brought people into play and you’re thinking, ‘I fancy us here’.

“Then, at Eastbourne, Ben Brookes smashed their winger in the first few minutes and screamed in his face and we’re buzzing off that. It just got us going.

“Is it luck? The gaffer’s got to do his research on who he’s signing but you never know what sort of blend people are going to be when you put them together.

“You can think ‘I’m signing 10 good lads’ but you can bring them into the changing room and one’s not playing and turns into a bad egg and it upsets the apple cart.

“But we’ve all been fantastic with each other from day one.

“I know from the outside looking in it hasn’t always seemed like that because on the pitch at the beginning of the season we looked like we didn’t know each other.

“I’m a football fan myself and if I was watching my team play the way we were playing, I wouldn’t have had much belief.

“But we were just gelling and as soon as we knew we were going to get in the play-offs, I fancied us.”

Maidstone are once again underdogs against a Boreham Wood side who are looking to seal an immediate return to the National League after last season’s relegation.

Eweka scored in a 1-1 draw there at the end of August, while Maidstone won the return game 4-0 in March.

The Wood have won every game since that heavy defeat, with ex-Stones striker Matt Rush scoring nine times in seven matches to fire them through to the final.

Eweka is keen to treat the final like any other game as Maidstone bid to upset the odds.

“As soon as you make it any more than that, you start to get nervous,” said Eweka, who picked up the players’ player-of-the-year award this season.

“We’ve played these teams in the regular season and when you look at the top seven, we’ve been very good.

“We beat Truro, Torquay, Eastbourne, Worthing and Boreham Wood, so we fancy ourselves against anyone.

“It was maybe against the lesser teams that we weren’t as good because they’d sit in a low block and we’d have to break them down.

“Does it feel different? You can feel the tension because everyone knows one mistake could cost you and that’s it, no second chances, but once you go out there and start playing, it’s just another game.”

Eweka knows he will need to be on his game to stop Rush.

They kept him quiet at the Gallagher, bar a couple of early openings, and know he’s a key man for the hosts.

“I get on well with Rushy,” said Eweka.

“I’ve made sure I’ve had no contact with him for the last few weeks, but he’s a good player and if he gets half a chance in the box, he’ll score, so I’ve got to make sure I’m on it and hopefully get a clean sheet.”

Maidstone will have 1,000 fans backing them in a sell-out crowd of 4,500.

They’ve helped the team over the line in plenty of games and Eweka has called for one more push in what could be a tight affair.

“I feel like the first five minutes will be a bit cagey because no team wants to concede early,” said Eweka.

“But, knowing the Maidstone fans, they’ll be louder than the Boreham Wood fans, so hopefully it feels like a home game.

“We’ve just got to go out there and give it our all.

“We’ve got nothing to lose.

“We finished seventh, no one believed in us.

“Boreham Wood have got everything to lose, so we’ve just got to go out there and do what we can.

“If the fans are half as good as they were at Eastbourne, we’ll be fine, because they were fantastic there.

“I knew about Maidstone and the fans before signing but once you’re playing in it, and once they’re cheering for you, it’s a different feeling.

“This is the biggest club I’ve been at, no disrespect to the others, with the expectation and the fanbase.

“It makes a massive, massive difference having them behind you and we want to repay their faith.”

Promotion would seal a return to the National League for Eweka, who was previously there with Maidenhead.

“I was younger and didn’t play as much as I would have liked but hopefully I can get Maidstone back there and we can give a good account of ourselves,” he said.