News about George Elokobi

MATT BARLOW OF THE CBS ARENA: On the outskirts of Coventry, George Elokobi and his magnificent rolling Stones came to a halt. It was there where they finally ran out of good fortune or FA Cup magic as it is also known. They were born into a vivacious and talented crew in a bouncing manner, as well as a center forward in Ellis Simms, who was in excellent form. With this old trophy and the FA Cup winners of 1987, Mark Robins and supporter of Coventry City have enjoyed their own romantic adventures. For the first time in 15 years.

Maidstone United, a National League South minnow, has captured football fans' hearts and minds throughout this season's FA Cup. They've seen them beat League One side Stevenage and Championship high-flyers Ipswich Town to win an unexpected berth in the fifth round of the world's oldest football competition. The Stones' dream campaign continues as they face Coventry in the Championships away from home tonight.

WhenMail Sport got behind the scenes with manager George Elokobi and Maidstone United's FA Cup victory over Ipswich, Elokobi and Maidstone United decided to train on a local Sunday league grass pitch rather than the artificial turf at their home, the Gallagher Stadium. Craig Fagan, his assistant, was keen to make sure the measurements were exactly the same as Portman Road, so the players knew exactly how their legs would feel and had an idea of how they would keep their shape against constant pressure from Championship opposition. They did it with a show for the ages, in front of over 4,000 travelling visitors.

Exclusive BY JOE BERNSTEIN: Since his FA Cup exploits made news throughout his home Brazil, National League South goalkeeper Lucas Covolan has been keeping his feet - and gloves - on the ground with early-morning airport runs for girlfriend Jana Kuna, a well-known sportswoman in her own right. Covolan, whose 12 saves helped Maidstone United beat Ipswich Town last month and become the lowest-ranked team to reach the FA Cup fifth round since 1978, has to set the alarm in order to drop off and retrieve his partner, an international fencer for Croatia. Jana is wondering if she's eligible for the Paris Olympics this summer, having just returned from the World Cup in Barcelona. It's a glamorous coupling for Kent's county town, and after missing out on the action at Portman Road in order to qualify in Qatar, Jana has confirmed she will be the chief cheerleader at Coventry City for Monday's match.

MATT BARLOW: When Maidstone United's team bus split the crowds, marched into the car park at Ipswich and a large number of gates were closed behind them, George Elokobi did not like the message it sent. He was furious to find his team within the sanctum of Portman Road and his followers largely absent so he begged the driver to stop and summoned his players from their seats. They all climbed off the bus, walked back through the mechanical gates, and the Maidstone chief thanked them for their assistance and told them to "enjoy every beat of the day" and include plenty of photographs and videos.

MY VERDICT MARTIN KEOWN (MarTIN KEOWN): I was co-commentator and had to choose the player of the match. Just one?Out of all these Maidstone history-makers? It's impossible. Can't do it. We wouldn't do it. I cheated. I named two women, and you're lucky that I did not land mine. Lucas Covolan, 32, appeared to be the National League South goalkeeper in name only as he was thrown at by Ipswich in their desperate attempt to prevent this loss. Lamar Reynolds was the other, the 28-year-old boy who performed as if he'd been waiting his entire life for this moment, scoring the sublime opener and then assisting Sam Corne for the champion. That's the beauty of the FA Cup: it gives players like Covolan and Reynolds the opportunity to bring their talents to the forefront, not to mention the fact that 98 locations divide you and your opponents.

OLIVER ASH: The weekend was one of the best days of my life. It's a wonderful time. I'm proud of the team, proud of George Elokobi, and what he's done for the entire neighborhood. Maidstone, a town that has perhaps not seen enough sporting glory in the past, is arguably showcasing its best. They deserve it, and they deserve it. Certainly, the older supporters value having their team because they didn't have it for many years and they know how precarious it can be. They are appreciative of the work that has been done behind the scenes by my colleagues and all the volunteers, that they can continue to participate and ensure the club is around not only for this moment of magic but also for many years to come.

AADAM PATEL PORTMAN ROAD: On Saturday, he may have scored a goal and received an assist in the FA Cup fourth round, but Lamar Reynolds, a social support worker in Ilford, was busily at work. Only the FA Cup will have such talelines. Reynolds, a footballer, works as a minibus driver for Links Support Solutions, a company that supports people with autism and learning disabilities, who travels with autism and learning disabilities, and the participation of young adults in sporting activities is beyond football. With his Sunday shift, Maidstone United's FA Cup hero returned to work yesterday. The events of Saturday etched Reynolds and his associates' names into history books as Maidstone pulled off one of the all-time Cup upsets against Ipswich, 98 places above them in the English football pyramid.

Goals from Lamar Reynolds and Sam Corne, either side of Jeremy Sarmiento's equalizer, paved a landmark victory for the National League team's first sixth tier club to progress to the fifth round since 1978. The final whistle was greeted by thousands of home supporters as George Elokobi and his players paid their respects to his 4,500 away fans. Reynolds and Corne may have scored the goals that resulted in this achievement, but there were certainly not the only ones deserved praise for their outstanding results.

Video of Maidstone United's rallying staff talking before their humiliating surprise at Ipswich has surfaced. Elokobi - a former Premier League defender, was seen rallying his side before the match. 'Make sure we do it out as a team,' he said. We've been a team, and that's why we're here today, thanks in large part to our teamwork.'

PATEL PERFORMAL IN THE COBBALD STAND AT PORTMAN ROAD: The lines outside the Cobbold Stand turnstiles on Portman Road are already stretching towards Princes Street two hours before the lunchtime kick-off and the lines outside the Cobbold Stand turnstiles are already stretching toward Princes Street. We can't wait for him.' I haven't slept all night, just thought about this moment. It's been over a hundred years in existence, and seeing us all here,' says 66-year-old Barry Fenn. Barry is the caretaker at Maidstone United and has followed the club from his childhood to date. We took two trainloads to Watford in 1987 for the third round, but this pales into complete insignificance.' This is history,' he claims.

Maidstone United celebrated their FA Cup heroic knell against Ipswich by belting out Adele's "Someone Like You" in the dressing room. The National League South side defeated Ipswich Town 2-1 at Portman Road, securing a spot in the last-16. The squad was shown celebrating their triumph by performing Adele's No. 1 hit from 2011.

Sam Corne and Lamar Reynolds scored the National League South team's breakthroughs, but Maidstone's troops were also on the scene. Not least goalkeeper Lucas Covolan, who made a string of spectacular saves as Ipswich piled on the heat in the dying stages of the tie, secured one of the finest FA Cup upsets of all time. Maidstone made their way across League Two and League One to reach this point, but Ipswich, who was flying high in the Championship with sights on a Premier League return, was a different beast. "This is what it means to our families,' says former Premier League defender Elokobi, who appeared after the game on BBC One. "It's all about us being together on days like this." It was up to the players to go out and enjoy competing against a fantastic Championship team.'

Before heading out to make more history at Ipswich on Saturday, Maidstone United boss George Elokobi told his traveling fans that the team were history makers. Sam Corne bagging the winner in a 2-1 victory over the Championship high-flyers in the FA Cup fourth round produced one of the best FA Cup upsets. When the Maidstone fans arrived at Portman Road earlier in the day, they were waiting for their team.

MATT BARLOW PORTMAN ROAD: Maidstone United embodied the spirit of the FA Cup to stun Championship high fliers Ipswich Town, the first team from the sixth tier of English football to qualify the Fifth Round since 1978, Blyth Spartans. Sam Corne and Lamar Reynolds scored the National League South team's first goals, but Maidstone's was missing, but there were heroes all over the place. Not least goalkeeper Lucas Covolan, who made a string of spectacular saves as Ipswich piled on the pressure in the late stages of the tie, securing one of the finest FA Cup upsets of all time.

IN MAIDSTA: AADAM PATEL is a pharmaceutical company from the United States. Half an hour before training begins, and Maidstone United's manager George Elokobi is pinging cross-field passes to his assistant Craig Fagan. It's just the two of them on the outfield enjoying the quiet before the work begins. Elokobi is fixated on curling the ball with his left foot around the back of the net and back onto the pitch. He then boots the ball up in the air, shouting "Five!" The ball has counted down to exactly five seconds before it hits the ground. The timing is just right. Well, it is. When he pulls it off three times in a row, he smiles. Elokobi, 37, was once a Premier League footballer, but this local Sunday League pitch is a long way from his playing days. He scored at Old Trafford once.

George Elokobi said that "the magic of the FA Cup is very much alive for us," and Maidstone may feel they have lost a little of the magic. He'd absolutely love a match against Wolves for whom he played more than 100 games in his next game. 'I want to bring my babies home to the Golden Palace Molineux, please make us draw Wolves,' he said. But for the time being, taking Maidstone in the fourth round for the first time in their history is a career accomplishment for which any coach would be proud.

IAN HERBERT - DEPUTY SPORTSWRITER CHIEF SPORTSWRITER - It used to be the FA Cup final build-up that began in the sun on Saturday morning, but here, at 11.30 a.m. on third day, it was a Gillingham fan with a long hair on Football Focus, describing the ice rink, its most popular son David Frost, and why the stadium is referred to as 'Home of the Running Man' With all due respect to Newcastle United's Sean Longstaff, over on ITV, who gave us one of those polished pre-match interviews we hear ad nauseam every week. You gave silent praise for the Priestfield Stadium and its narrow little brick back corridor, which might make Sheffield United's hearts shiver. Thenay interview of the day arrived shortly after a ball had even been kicked in in rage among the many FA Cup opponents. When George Elokobi, the Cameroonian who took over as Maidstone United's boss last year after 20 years as a journeyman, fought back tears as he told Focus's legendary Mark Clemmit about his desire to help the National League South team in a way that would have made his father proud. How gorgeous it was.

The 1-0 victory over Stevenage in the FA Cup third round last Saturday made the dressing room riot after the whistle at the Gallagher Stadium. Sam Corne's late first-half penalty was the deciding factor in the match in Kent, propelling the sixth-tier team to the fourth round. Maidstone, battling their opponents who thwarted them with a ferocious second-half revival from Stevenage of League One, fought the bar and the newspaper in a single play.

George Elokobi has had his fair share of beating the odds in his more than two decades in professional football. Elokobi, who came from England at the age of 16, embarked on a career in football, playing in the seventh class of English football before progressing to being a Premier League regular at Wolves before embarking on a career in management. Nevertheless, today's result may be the biggest surprise of his career.

Many of the Premier League teams have been selected by top division sides for their third round matches, while others will face lower league outfits. Arsenal's match against Liverpool at the Emirates is likely to be the headline match, but there are other games that might have sparked controversy, with those opposing the trend being eager to make news. The largest chunk of the games will be played over Saturday and Sunday following Crystal Palace's match on Thursday, as well as a few Friday night fixtures.