Maynard targeting defensive improvement at Wealdstone

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Wealdstone’s caretaker manager Stuart Maynard says he wants to improve the team’s defensive record while in charge of the club.

Maynard was former boss Dean Brennan’s assistant, who stepped down as manager last week due to tensions behind the scenes.




In a statement following his exit, Brennan said he was “becoming uncomfortable” with the relationship between chairman Rory Fitzgerald and Maynard which was one of the reasons behind his departure.

But Maynard insists his focus is now solely on the future and said: “The club made their statement and I don’t need to comment on anything further. My focus is just on the football club now and bringing the team forward.

“We’ve got a good squad and we’re happy to work with it on the training ground.

“Me and Matty (Saunders) had our second training session and we’ve been more structured in the sense that we’re working a hell of a lot more defensively now.

“We know we’ve conceded a lot of goals this season and that’s our main focus really, to stop shipping goals. We know we’ll always score goals because we’ve got good attacking players in the team.

“We can’t keep relying on outscoring the opposition because you just don’t get any long-term success that way. We’ll still look to attack teams but there’s different ways of doing it.”

The club are still searching for a new manager and Maynard did not rule out taking the job on permanently if the opportunity came about.

“I’m in charge for the foreseeable future so we’ll just see where it takes us,” he added.

“I’m just focused on Saturday and trying to get three points.”

Wealdstone face Bromley at Grosvenor Vale in the National League on Saturday following a 1-1 draw with leaders Torquay United on Tuesday.

Both Connor Stevens and Ross Lafayette trained on Thursday night and Maynard was waiting to hear from his medical team as to whether they would be able to play tomorrow.

Josh Meekings is still involved with the first-team despite the recent departures of other non-contract players and also trained last night following a groin injury.

But Connor Smith will miss the game through suspension, while Watford loanee George Langston has picked up a hamstring injury.