Neil Gibson’s time as Wealdstone manager started with a respectable 1-1 draw with former manager Matt Taylor’s Solihull Moors at Grosvenor Vale on Saturday.

But they were then hit by a 1-0 home defeat by Tamworth on Tuesday and slipped back into the relegation places, with Max Kretzschmar seeing red just past the hour mark and the only goal arriving on 73 minutes.

The prolific Alex Reid grabbed his eighth Stones goal in just 13 starts for the club after just four minutes at the weekend, but Alexander Whitmore restored parity just before half-time.

With Taylor returning to north London for the first time since leaving the club a fortnight ago, the pressure was on Gibson to get a performance out of his players.

“Could I have asked for any more effort from them? Absolutely not. Not at all,” said the new Stones boss.

“It was unbelievable work from the groundstaff to get the game on. We wanted the game on, and due to the nature of the weather, the pitch played a bit heavy.

“But we stayed on the front foot and were really strong in terms of our fitness levels over the course of the game, and that’s where it impressed me most.

"We are asking the lads to go and press the ball to move it quickly and play with a little bit more intensity. They did that in abundance, I felt.”

“Can we be better? Yes.”

The draw reassured Gibson his playing squad is capable of managing games appropriately when up against it, but the new boss felt the fans were largely to thank for the team’s confident performance.

“I thought the fans were fantastic. They made a real noise and made it a real occasion for the group, and I thought the players thrived off that,” he added.

“The fans were making a lot of noise behind the goal, which was absolutely great.

“In those moments, in the 30 minutes after that and building up to half-time, I thought we were well in the ascendancy. I thought they (Solihull) started okay for 15 minutes. We got to grips with it a little bit, and then we came on strong after the goal.

“The goal for them is the killer moment. If we get into half-time at 1-0, we probably move on and go on to win the game. However, really pleasing aspects of play and lots and lots to work with.”

The Stones might regret not being able to go on and win the game after spending long periods with the ball and creating several chances.

“When you’re on top in games and in moments of football, you have to push to try and get the next goal. I think if we’d have sat back after the first goal, it would have played right into Solihull’s hands,” said Gibson.

“Ultimately, we tried to push to get the second goal. We had opportunities and scrambled half chances, hopefully getting people off their seats.

"We want to create those opportunities in the final third that gets the supporters excited about what we’re trying to do.”

Wealdstone welcome fourth-placed Gateshead on Saturday.