Maidstone boss Jay Saunders slammed his side’s defending following a 3-1 defeat at East Thurrock on Tuesday night.

Lewis Smith broke the deadlock after only five minutes and Neil Richmond made it two just before half-time.

Zac Attwood replied with a penalty on 57 minutes but a second for Smith, midway through the second half, ended United’s hopes.

Stones travelled to Essex looking to follow up their thrilling 4-3 victory over Dulwich Hamlet last weekend but were badly out of sorts.

Saunders told the club website: “It sums up our season really. We can’t defend, simple as that. We just give away bad goals constantly.

“It’s been like that for weeks. I have been trying to do something about it and it’s caught up with us again.

“I said before the game, as good as Saturday was and as hard as they worked, it’s easy to get yourself up for games like that in front of big crowds.

“It’s when you come here, your bread and butter, can you do it, and we didn't have enough characters.

“I don’t think they've strung together five passes but what they had was a bit of desire and workrate and they put the ball in right areas and asked questions.

“We couldn't match it and if you want to do well in leagues, you've got to come to places like this and win and we've been nowhere near it, bar a couple of people.”