VERDICT: Miguel’s late show secures a priceless win for Nunn’s Diamonds

But if you are to pull off a great escape, you have to start digging the tunnel at some point and the first game of 2023 might have just been the day that job started.

Miguel Ngwa’s late goal to seal a 2-1 success over St Ives Town was met with an almighty roar from the vast majority of the biggest crowd of the season at Hayden Road.

A roar of hope or belief perhaps?

Either way, the Diamonds fans witnessed the one thing they’ve been looking for and that was a performance full of grit and desire.

It would have been easy for new boss Chris Nunn to think he might have had a hopeless task on his hands after his first game in charge ended in a 6-1 Christmas stuffing at Bedford Town on Boxing Day.

But, whatever was said in between had the desired effect,

It was a real battle on a Hayden Road surface that was only given the go ahead after a morning inspection. The pitch cut up badly and it was clear that, by the end, the surface had sapped a lot of energy out of both sets of players.

Nunn handed a debut to defender Luke Massingham who produced a decent performance while the three other new boys added this week will have to wait a little longer to make their bows due to a hold up in paperwork.

But the new Diamonds manager, on this occasion at least, got a tune out of a group that have been bruised and battered this season.

They were helped when they were gifted the lead after 10 minutes.

St Ives goalkeeper James Goff’s attempt to clear the ball went straight to the feet of Jenson Cooper and he sent a first-time effort back into the unguarded net.

But the visitors posed a real threat at the other end and an incredible afternoon for Diamonds goalkeeper Dean Snedker started with two decent saves to deny Tyrone Baker and then Jonathan Edwards.

However, it was a rare error from Snedker that led to the equaliser three minutes before the break. Jonathan Herd crossed from the left, Snedker couldn’t hold on to it and former Diamonds man Nabil Shariff managed to bundle the ball home at the far post with a close-range backheel.

After a second-half collapse at Bedford, the Diamonds fans might have feared the worst.

Instead, the hard work continued and as the pitch became tougher, the chances dried up.

But then, as the energy levels dropped, gaps began to appear and both teams could have scored before Diamonds finally did.

In the meantime, Nunn rolled the dice by putting forward Andy Kanga on in place of injured centre-half Ryan Hughes.

But it was St Ives who went close with Snedker pulling off another fine stop to deny Jordan Williams before substitute Enoch Andoh somehow missed from close-range after fellow replacement Kieran Higgs had sent a low ball across goal.

It was a fortunate break for Diamonds and they took full advantage.

They were out of luck themselves when Conor Tee’s curling effort smacked off the face of the crossbar after both Cooper and Kanga had seen their shots brilliantly blocked by the visiting defence.

But then, with just three minutes to go, the big moment arrived.

Kanga broke through the midfield and fed Tee on the right. The on-rushing Kanga couldn’t quite connect with the cross but it broke perfectly for Northampton Town loanee Ngwa and he brought the house down with an emphatic finish into the roof of the net.

However, that wasn’t the end of the drama as Snedker saved his best until last.

Andoh skipped past a couple of challenges in the box and then fired towards goal but the Diamonds stopper somehow got a hand to it and deflected it onto the far post before Kartell Dawkins cleared.

It was an outstanding save that sealed the deal.

As previously observed, there’s a long way to go in this fight for Diamonds.

But all of a sudden, eight points from safety looks a lot better than 10.

It’s a long, long road ahead but if the performances remain as committed as this one then Nunn’s team will, at the very least, give themselves a fighting chance.

Diamonds: Snedker; Agemoh-Davies, Massingham, Hughes (sub Kanga, 61 mins), Lashley; Dawkins, White; Abimbola, Tee, Ngwa; Cooper. Subs not used: Black, Corden, Grey, Connor.

St Ives: Goff; Casey, Milne, J Williams, Herd; Hottor (sub Johnson, 88 mins), Cowling; Shariff, D Williams (sub Higgs, 53 mins), Baker; Edwards (sub Andoh, 74 mins).

Referee: Luke Scott.

Goals: Cooper (10 mins, 1-0), Shariff (42 mins, 1-1), Ngwa (87 mins, 2-1).

Bookings: J Williams, Lashley, Ngwa (all fouls).

Northants Telegraph man-of-the-match: Dean Snedker - there were plenty of contenders with the likes of Jenson Cooper, Conor Tee and new boy Luke Massingham all impressing, but once again the Diamonds goalkeeper was outstanding. There was a rare error in the build-up to St Ives’ goal but he’d already made three decent saves by then. And the one he made to deny Enoch Andoh to preserve the three points was verging on world class. There can’t be many better keepers at this level.

Attendance: 436.