No point to prove for Maxwell as he plots Diamonds’ rise up the table

But the Diamonds boss has urged the club’s fans to keep an “open mind” about him.

Maxwell’s appointment as boss at Hayden Road has been the subject of much debate amongst supporters but Diamonds will head into this weekend’s clash at Royston Town on the back of a two-match unbeaten run.

Having drawn 1-1 with Bromsgrove Sporting, Diamonds went one better last weekend as they claimed a crucial 4-2 home success over fellow strugglers Kings Langley thanks to goals from Nathan Hicks, Andy Kanga, Conor Tee and Christopher Manangu.

That will go a long way in keeping the doubters quiet for a while but Maxwell insists his sole focus is on doing the best he can for the club as they bid to get themselves out of the bottom two after an, overall, poor first three months of the campaign.

When asked whether he has a point to prove, the club’s former Under-23s manager said: “It doesn’t really register with me, I’m not here to prove a point about myself.

“What I would hope is that people enter it with an open mind and just judge us based on where we were, where we are now and what’s happening on the pitch.

“I am trying to do my best for the club and get the best performances and results out of the players and instill the best culture.

“I just want people to judge us on what happens.

“This weekend, Royston are at home and they need a result so the pressure will be on them.

“We will go there with confidence and we will need our travelling fans again and, together we will go there and get a good game out of the guys and see what happens.”

Maxwell, meanwhile, was delighted with the “resiliency” his team showed last Saturday.

Diamonds trailed 1-0 and 2-1 before the game turned when substitute Tee put them 3-2 up with a superb free-kick, which was taken just moments after the visitors had been reduced to 10 men.

And the manager insists instilling belief and getting the best out of the players remains the toughest and most important part of his job.

“I was delighted with the resiliency of the players,” he said.

“We went down early in the game but they never let their heads drop and that’s what got them back into it twice.

“The players were immense, they worked really hard for each other and you don’t get four goals without doing that.

“Getting the best out of people is a crucial part of management and if you could bottle confidence you would be a billionaire.

“You look at where I took it over and they had lost 7-0 to Coalville and 5-0 to Hednesford and people had written them off and wanted a wholesale change of players.

“I never believed that and, working with them individually and collectively, there’s no doubt they are a quality bunch.

“The thing now is to get them believing that and working to a system. It’s hard work but you could see on Saturday that we have moved away from hope into actual belief.”