Ian Culverhouse gets St Albans City a 1-1 draw in first game

The new Saints boss, together with club legend Paul Bastock, were announced on Thursday as the men to take over from the sacked David Noble.

Their first game in charge of the National League South strugglers saw them return from Kent with a 1-1 draw.

And the boss believes the point can give them the platform to move up the standings.

Culverhouse said: "We're here to get out of the little bit of a mess we're in, a little bit of a hole, and then we'll progress and go on to better things.

"[We'll get out of it] by putting that effort in, especially second half, we were magnificent.

"And then we defended our box well, they are a big strong side and they asked a lot of questions defensively, but we stood up to it.

"That shows character.

"It's a small step, we've got a squad that is low on confidence and hopefully this is a step forward.

"We've got three sessions this week and it is about how we can put the work in ahead of a another tricky game away to Boreham Wood."

Ken Charles heads in an equaliser at Maidstone United. Picture: JIM STANDEN (Image: Jim Standen) The duo will soon become a trio, Joe Simpson, who was with them at Boston United, set to follow them into Clarence Park as first-team coach.

And Culverhouse is happy to have found a squad that may only need a few tactical tweaks, as well as one of two new faces.

He said: "We've inherited a really technical side, we maybe need to work on our distances when we're defending and out of possession but with the ball, we are a talented group.

"We will add to it, we need to speed our play a bit more so we're not passing for the sake of passing at times and play a little more forward.

"But [the draw with Maidstone] is a good platform to build on and hopefully it instils a little bit of confidence and we can go on to bigger and better things."

The match at the Gallagher Stadium saw Maidstone take the lead on 21 minutes, a cross was misjudged and finished off by Antony Papadopoulos.

But with 17 minutes remaining, Ken Charles, who was with Culverhouse and Bastock at King's Lynn Town, headed in an equaliser to leave City third from bottom and six points adrift of safety.

"It was a really good move," said the boss. "We were patient in possession, and it's a great ball in and a great header by Ken.

"I'm really pleased for him.

"We tried to bank up first half so it was a bit alien for the players but I thought we grew into the game.

"We got confidence by staying in the game, the goal was obviously a setback but we responded well.

"Second half we had a little tinker and came a lot braver on the ball, which shows the character we have in the dressing room."