Jay Saunders said he was desperate to extend Aaron Collins’ loan after the Wolves youngster signed off with a goal at Aldershot.

It was Collins’ first Maidstone goal - and his best performance - but he returns to Molineux just as he’s finding his feet.

United will try to get him back but a Football League loan looks to be the more likely option.

Saunders said: “I thought he was excellent. As his loan spell’s gone on he’s got better and better.

“I’m desperate to keep him on loan. Whether it’ll happen, it’ll be down to Wolves.

“From what I gather from his agent, there might be a little bit of league interest and obviously, for Wolves, they will always look to get him slightly higher football if they can.

“It was always going to take him a little while to get used to us and us get used to him.

“I said when we brought him in he’s a natural wide-right man and you could see that today, the runs he was making off the line, he caused them a lot of problems so I’d love to keep him.”

Collins’ second-half goal gave Maidstone the lead but they conceded an injury-time equaliser against National League title contenders Aldershot.

Saunders said: “Going into the Christmas period if you’d said you’d get a point here you’d have taken it but obviously 93rd minute you think the game’s won but it just shows you what this league is like this season.

“There’s plenty of positives. I thought we were better than we were at Dover (2-2 draw on Boxing Day).

“We’ve had two real tough games against teams who are up around the play-offs.

“I think we’ve shown today we’re not far away from it.

“We’ve just got to get everyone back fit because the squad is really stretched at the moment and maybe one or two additions and I think we can kick on.

“It’s frustrating because you think the game’s won but that’s football. It happens sometimes and we can’t be too down about it.”

Maidstone host Dover on New Year’s Day, with Saunders questioning the need for two games in three days.

He’s lost Collins while Alex Finney (broken jaw), Ollie Muldoon (hamstring) and Delano Sam-Yorke (knee) are on the sidelines.

Saunders said: “There’ll be two or three changes on Monday. There’s no way you can play Saturday and Monday, I don’t think.

"Certain players will struggle with it so we will have to look at it and make changes accordingly.”

As for Dover, Saunders added: “They’re a different kettle of fish to Aldershot.

“They ask different questions of you and we’ve got to prepare for that.”

Read the match report from Maidstone's draw at Aldershot