Maidstone’s new formation worked a treat for manager Jay Saunders.

The Stones went 3-5-2 for their FA Trophy first-round tie at Torquay on Saturday and won 4-0.

Their back three looked nice and solid, the midfield enjoyed having two strikers to supply and Joe Pigott and Jamar Loza hit it off up front.

Saunders felt the first five or 10 minutes belonged to Torquay but, after that, it was all Maidstone.

He said: “We tried something new today and when you do that you’re always a bit wary going into the first game.

“It’s all right working on it in training but until you actually put it into practice in a game, you never know quite how it’s going to go.

“I thought it worked well for us today and it was probably the best we’ve played in a few weeks.

“With the formation Torquay play, I just felt this way would help us.

“I didn’t want to come here and shut up shop and to do that we would probably have had to go one up top.

“We did that the last time we came here and were under a lot of pressure, so it was kind of to take the game to them and get two up front and go with the three at the back.”

Loza was a late inclusion with Saunders previously toying between Delano Sam-Yorke and Zavon Hines to partner Pigott.

United are still treading carefully with Loza after ankle surgery but it was a good opportunity to throw him in.

Saunders said: “Jam, we decided to put him in this morning.

"It was a decision whether to go with Zavon or D up alongside Pigs and I just felt it was a chance in the Trophy game to give Jam that run and I thought those two up there, especially first half, really caused them a lot of problems and probably both deserved a goal.

“The pair of them were a big part of what we did today.”

Pigott and Loza’s movement as a pair also helped the midfield shine, particularly Reece Prestedge, the scorer of the second goal.

Saunders added: “Defensively he was very good but I thought his distribution was excellent today as well.

“Jam and Pigs offer very different options for you as a midfielder, so that probably helped.”

Read the match report from Maidstone's FA Trophy win at Torquay