We will give someone a good hiding, warns Maidstone United boss Jay Saunders

MAIDSTONE UNITED manager Jay Saunders says he wants his side to bounce back against Hampton & Richmond Borough on Saturday.

The Stones went down to a shock 4-1 defeat away to fourth-from-bottom Thamesmead Town on Tuesday night. They would have regained top spot in the Ryman Premier League had they avoided defeat at Bayliss Avenue.

There are only four points separating the top six clubs with Kingstonian, Dulwich Hamlet, Maidstone United, Wealdstone, Bognor Regis Town and AFC Hornchurch all with a chance of claiming the league title.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for someone this year,” said Saunders.

“We can’t be too down. We’ve got to pick ourselves up.  I think that’s only four fourth defeat all season, our fourth away defeat, so we’ve got to take positives from it or try to.

“Don’t get me wrong, to lose 4-1 to a team that was in the bottom four is disappointing, but you’ve got to give Thamesmead some credit.  Every chance they had they put away and they worked ever so hard and fair play to them.”

Saunders will work on things during training, ahead of Saturday’s home game against Hampton & Richmond Borough.

The Beavers are in eleventh-place in the table with 38 points from 25 games and are unbeaten in their last eight league games, but Maidstone United are unbeaten at home in fifteen league games.

“I can’t remember when a team has scored a goal against us and you think that could have been avoided and that’s what’s disappointing for me at the moment,” said Saunders.

“We did have the best defensive record in the league about three weeks ago and now we’re shipping goals and that’s a worry for me.  We should have more about us than that. 

"If you want to win things and get promoted first of all you have to be hard to beat. If you go 1-0 up it might be a 1-0 but you don’t concede cheap goals and at the moment we’re doing that.

“We’ll be alright. We’re getting players back now from injury. We’ll get there. I’m not panicking. It’s a set-back and it’s a big disappointment but we’ve just got to get over it and prepare for a tough game on Saturday.”

Saunders said he is expecting a tough game against Hampton & Richmond Borough.

He said: “They’ll be a decent side. They’re scoring goals at the moment and they’ve got a decent front two and they’re one of the form sides so it’s going to be really tough.

“We have to pick ourselves up. It’s a good opportunity, we’re at home against a form side to go out and prove a point and get ourselves back up. 

“I’ve said to the boys it’s up to them how they react to this (defeat to Thamesmead).  They can either get their heads down and get stuck in a rut and start losing a few or go on another little run.  We’ve done it a few times this season.  We lost at Margate earlier on in the season and then went fifteen unbeaten. We lost to Dulwich and Wealdstone and went on another run so we’ve just got to do it again.

“The players’ are capable of doing it. It’s just that little bit of belief and I honestly believe the chances we’re creating we will give someone a good hiding but only the players can make that happen.”

Visit Maidstone United’s website: www.maidstoneunited.co.uk

Maidstone United  v  Hampton & Richmond Borough
Ryman Premier League
Saturday 25^th January 2014
Kick Off 3:00pm
at The Gallagher Stadium, James Whatman Way, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1LQ