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 - Daggers winning 1-0 at the Gallagher - 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, to be fair, they have had a go."

Defeat saw Stones drop a place to 18th in the National League, with Dagenham up to third.

There wasn't the gap in class the table suggests but Stones were punished for switching off at a throw-in, claiming it should have been their ball while Daggers got on with the game and scored.

Saunders said: "I think they're gutted because they know 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 I thought they gave everything.

"We've just got to keep our heads up and keep going."

Read the match report from Maidstone's 1-0 defeat by Dagenham