Jay Saunders liked the look of his Maidstone team in their opening-day draw against Maidenhead.

Stones led through Joe Pigott and were largely on top against the promoted visitors only to concede at the death.

Saunders saw Harley Willard and Pigott hit the bar and big chances fall to Delano Sam-Yorke and Tom Wraight but Sam Barratt levelled and it finished 1-1.

The Stones boss said: “I thought there were plenty of positives.

“If you compare that to the performance at the start of last season, we looked in control, we created some great chances, my one gripe is we’ve not taken them.

“First half, Harley’s hit the woodwork early on, Delano’s had a chance I think he’s got to score near-post, Pigs has hit the woodwork and Tom Wraight, I’d have to see that again, probably should score.

“We got in some good areas and we’ve not taken our chances.

“There were plenty of chances but 1-0 is a dodgy scoreline and unfortunately for us, it proved that and we could have lost it in the end.

“On another day you win two or 3-0 quite comfortably, even four, but it’s football.

“If you don’t take your chances you’re liable, especially against a side like that.

“You can see what they’re set up for, they’re a big side, they’re set up for set-pieces and unfortunately we dealt with 99% of it and that one chance they’ve got, they’ve taken it.”

Saunders praised his new-look back four after a testing week that saw Kevin Lokko leave the club and Magnus Okuonghae ruled out by injury.

Josh Hare was given the nod at centre-half alongside QPR loanee Alex Finney, who only signed on Thursday.

Saunders said: “You’ve got two centre-halves who’ve only met each other for a couple of hours on Thursday and I think Alex probably only knew Josh and Joe Anderson and Worgs’ names, he probably didn’t know anyone else’s. I thought he and Josh were outstanding.

“We went through some stuff on Thursday with them. They’re playing against Sean Marks and Dave Tarpey, two very experienced players, and I thought they kept them quiet for most of the game.

“It was just a case of talking to them and doing a little bit of work with them.

“The good thing with young lads like that is they take it on board.

“You’ve got to remember they’re both 21-year-old lads - Josh might be slightly older - but it’s not like they’re seasoned pros. To come in and put in that display was good.”

Read the match report from Maidstone's 1-1 draw with Maidenhead