Saunders gets the response he wanted
Maidstone boss Jay Saunders got the response he was looking for against Dagenham – even in defeat.
Saunders publicly criticised his players after losing 3- 0 to Woking at the weekend.
They may have lost again on Tuesday night but showed the effort and commitment the manager wants.
Saunders said: “When you hammer people and then you come out and say it in the press as well, it goes either way. They either come in and think, ‘stuff you’ and don’t want to give me the effort or they come in and have a go and they have had a go.”
Defeat saw Stones drop to 18th in the National League, with Dagenham up to third.
There wasn’t the gap in class the league table suggests but Stones were punished for switching off at a throw-in, claiming it should have been their ball while Dagenham got on with the game and scored.
Saunders said: “They’re gutted because they know United’s Conference-winning manager John Still was back at his old club on Tuesday night. Dagenham boss Still was given a warm reception by home fans as he made his way to the dugout. He led Maidstone to the Conference championship and promotion to the Football League in 1989. But he was controversially forced out by a derisory contract offer and replaced by Keith Peacock after chairman Jim Thompson decided he wanted a manager with Football League experience. Still has previously brought Dagenham and his former club Luton along to the Gallagher for pre-season friendlies. we’ve switched off for one minute.
“I know Dagenham have had a couple of chances second half when we’re pushing to try and get back into the game but if you look at it, first half, we’ve switched off for one opportunity and got punished.
“Sooner or later it’s got to sink in and they’ve got to learn because otherwise we’re going to keep losing games.
“But, like I say, they could have come here today and been down but they gave everything. I feel a little bit cheated by Saturday even more so because if they’d given that much effort against Woking, we’d have got a result but there you go.
“We’ve just got to keep our heads up and keep going.
“If you’re looking at a side that are third in the league, it shows you it’s just one or two areas you’ve got to be better in and it’s the difference between winning, losing and drawing games.”