Manager Harry Wheeler took the blame for Maidstone’s defeat by Bromley on Saturday.

Wheeler said he got his tactics wrong as a poor first-half display cost his side at the Gallagher Stadium.

United improved after the break but Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe’s 11th-minute header settled the match.

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The Stones drop a place to 19th in the National League but remain three points clear of the bottom four.

Wheeler said: “I probably take a little bit of the flak for the first half. Maybe we didn’t set up well enough.

“We stayed with what we’ve been doing recently because it’s been working.

“If you do change it and it doesn’t work you set yourself up in that way, so we stayed with what we’ve done.

“But we should have probably adapted to what they brought. They did their homework and first half were on top.

“Second half we adjusted and we were definitely the better team and they held on, but we didn’t get anything.”

Bromley’s hold over Maidstone goes on after completing a fourth win in five National League meetings.

Wheeler felt United learned from the first half but the damage was done.

He said: “They exposed space that we left, they just started on the front foot, which we were trying to do as well, but our personnel maybe didn’t match the formation and that’s maybe where we got it wrong.

“We adapt, we learn from that, we go again.

“We learnt instantly to be fair, that’s why we were so good second half, but sometimes you’re one down and the problem is you’re chasing it.”

Wheeler hadn’t been fooled by Maidstone’s return of seven points from three games, warning his side were nowhere near the finished article.

And the Bromley result is perhaps a reality check for anyone who had been getting away by the turnaround.

Wheeler said: “It’s not a reality check for us, maybe for them, but they know, they saw the effort, they saw the work rate, they know we should have got something from the game.

“The fact is we didn’t and we’ve got to defend better on that first one but we didn’t, did we, and so in the end we paid for that.”

One positive was the performance of Ollie Muldoon on his return from an ankle injury.

Wheeler has big plans for the midfielder, who was introduced as a second-half substitute.

He said: “I like Ollie. Ollie’s very good. He gives us a passing range, you saw when he came on, he’s hit the bar, he’s hit the post.

“He gives us something different, it’s nice to have him back fit.”

Miss Jay Saunders' unexpected return to the Gallagher? Read the match report from Maidstone's defeat by Bromley