Jay Saunders said Ian Cooper was possibly the worst referee in National South after Maidstone suffered at his hands again.

Cooper was the official at Dartford in November who ruled out home captain Elliot Bradbrook’s late equaliser for offside, only to have a change of heart after consulting his linesman as United drew 1-1.

And Stones felt hard done by at Whitehawk on Saturday when another U-turn went against them, Cooper initially allowing Alex Flisher’s 84th-minute strike before taking the linesman’s advice and chalking it off in a 1-0 defeat.

The offside decision frustrated boss Saunders, who substituted Jay May at half-time because he feared Cooper would send him off.

Saunders said: “He’s possibly the worst referee we get. He did it at Dartford with the offside.

“Today’s one, the initial ball I think Flisher’s possibly offside, so he doesn’t go for it.

“The ball then gets cleared, it comes back, comes off the defender, Flish then becomes active, he gets the ball, he looks round at the referee to make sure, the linesman’s played on, the ref’s told Flish to play on, he then scores and for some reason he goes and talks to the linesman.

“He gives the goal and then decides ‘I’m going to go and talk to the linesman.’ The minute he does that, we knew he was going to overrule it."

Saunders questioned the appointment of Cooper following the Princes Park controversy.

He added: “It’s ridiculous. I just don’t know how we end up with the same ref after what happened last time at Dartford.

“The funniest thing is it’s him that’s played on, not the linesman. He’s waved the thing on, so he’s given the decision to play on and given the goal and all of a sudden he backs down.

“I just can’t for the life of me understand that. I don’t get it.”

Saunders felt Maidstone deserved something from the game, played on a slope that must be seen to be believed.

He said: “I thought we had the better opportunities. It wasn’t the greatest of games but on this pitch it’s never a footballing game.

“Whitehawk are a very good footballing side but you can see the way they have to play here.

“It’s horrendous. It’s not the best place. I don’t know how this sort of thing is allowed at this level but they know how to use it.”

Read the match report from Saturday's game