Jay Saunders was left scratching his head after Maidstone’s defeat at Leyton Orient.

For the third game running the Stones boss felt his side played well but they left Brisbane Road empty-handed.

The visitors held their own against relegated Orient in front of more than 5,000 fans but didn’t take their chances and went down 2-0.

United’s best opportunity fell to Joe Pigott but they fell behind on the hour with Saunders pointing to a Reece Prestedge mistake.

Delano Sam-Yorke had a strike ruled out for offside - there were suggestions it should have stood - before a foul on Pigott went unpunished as the O’s added a late second.

Saunders said: “I’m struggling to get my head round it, how we’ve lost 2-0.

“The first goal is a mistake again. Reece Prestedge has got to clear his lines and completely missed the ball and it led to the cross coming in.

“The second one is a foul on Pigs on the edge of the box, the ref doesn’t give it and they break and score.

“To be honest, up until 1-0 we looked completely comfortable, again had the better of the chances - Pigs has got to score first half - and it’s come back to haunt us because at 1-0 it’s a different game.

“Even second half, up until they scored I felt so comfortable.

“We looked like the side who were going to cause more problems, getting crosses in their box.

“We got ourselves back in it and apparently it’s offside and then they broke on us when we were open at the end and got the second.”

Saunders felt referee Adam Bromley had a bad day but the bigger picture is his side are without a win in three National League games.

He said: “We’re creating chances but we’ve got to start taking them because it relieves the pressure on the defence. It’s a similar scenario to last year.

“I know at the moment the team is kind of picking itself, rather than me picking it, because of the bodies we’ve got injured and out suspended.

“Hopefully we can get a few of them back soon and be able to make some tougher decisions.”

Read the match report from Maidstone's 2-0 defeat at Leyton Orient