Jay Saunders couldn’t believe it as Maidstone blew up against Tranmere in the final five minutes.

The Stones led 2-1 and looked set to end their 16-game winless run against the biggest club in the National League.

But the wait goes on after Alex Finney - who’d scored United’s first goal - put through his own net and conceded a penalty as Rovers pinched a 3-2 victory.

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Boss Saunders said: “I’m a bit lost for words. That’s been us on this run, to be honest.

“We’ve been in games - we’ve not been out of them.

“Lee Worgan hasn’t had a lot to do and he’s had to pick the ball out of his net three times.

“I don’t want to say it’s not going for us because I don’t want to blame it all on luck as it’s been on a long run but it’s hard to take.

“Listen, you’ve got a team chasing promotion there and you’ve got us and there weren’t masses between the teams.

“For large parts of it we were OK but for whatever reason we’ve lost the game again.”

Andy Cook made it 1-1 after a mistake by Will De Havilland but Ross Lafayette put Maidstone 2-1 up from the penalty spot before half-time.

United looked comfortable in the second half but ended up losing.

They remain five points clear of the relegation zone but drop a place to 18th.

Saunders said: “It’s difficult to take because I couldn’t really see us losing the game.

“I thought we worked ever so hard - I suppose maybe we needed a third goal - but if you look at the three goals we conceded again, they’re poor.

“It’s hard to take because for the majority of the game I thought we defended really well but it’s just a couple of lapses in concentration.

“I think for the first one Will’s not seen the ball come in and couldn’t adjust his feet and gives him a tap-in when we were well on top and 1-0 up and looking good.

“We allowed them to come back into the game but we responded well, get a penalty and score and then there was nothing in the game.

“The second goal, I was calling Reece back to make a substitution to get Reece Prestedge on and I turned round and the ball’s in the net.

“The third one, Finney’s just got to stay on his feet, there’s no need to dive in.”

Read the match report from Maidstone's 3-2 defeat by Tranmere