Jay’s pleased with progress
Manager Jay Saunders liked the look of his Maidstone team in their opening-day draw against Maidenhead. Maidstone led through Joe Pigott and had chances to pull clear but conceded with two minutes left. Saunders said: “I thought there were plenty of positives. “If you compare that to the performance at the start of last season, we looked in control and created some great chances. My one gripe is we’ve not taken them. “We got in some good areas and we’ve not taken our chances. “There were plenty of chances but 1-0 is a dodgy scoreline and unfortunately for us, it proved that and we could have lost it in the end. “On another day you win two or 3-0 quite comfortably, even four, but it’s football. “If you don’t take your chances, you’re liable, especially against a side like that. “You can see what they’re set up for, they’re a big side, they’re set up for set-pieces and we dealt with 99% of it and that one chance they’ve got, they’ve taken it.” Saunders praised his new-look defensive four after a testing week that saw Kevin Lokko leave the club and Magnus Okuonghae ruled out by injury. Josh Hare was given the nod at centre-half alongside QPR loanee Alex Finney. Saunders said: “I thought Alex and Josh were outstanding. “It was just a case of talking to them and doing a little bit of work with them. “The good thing with young lads like that is they take it on board. “You’ve got to remember they’re both 21-year-old lads – Josh might be slightly older – but it’s not like they’re seasoned pros. To come in and put in that display was good.”