Harry Wheeler says the pressure that comes with football management is a privilege.

The new Maidstone boss takes his side to fellow strugglers Braintree on Saturday for a key early-season game.

That’s followed by Aldershot away on Tuesday night.

United are 22nd in the National League, a point and a place ahead of Braintree.

It’s an important match but Wheeler is staying cool.

He said: “The pressure is a privilege. It's a nice environment to be in and I don't mind the pressure.

“It's not really pressure anyway, is it? This is football. Pressure is saving people's lives and being in the medical world.

“That's pressure. This is not pressure.

“We just know what we've got to do and it's got to be changed quickly.”

Maidstone are on a run of six defeats and haven’t even scored in their past four matches.

They lost 2-0 to leaders Harrogate in Wheeler’s opening match last weekend, while Braintree claimed their first win of the season with a surprise 1-0 victory at Gateshead.

Wheeler said: “They obviously had a good win so they will be confident but this doesn't mean we're not confident, so it makes no difference.

“We'll worry about them in training but for now we've just got to get ourselves right. That's the most important thing.

“There's 105 points to play for. If we start picking up a few of them, we'll be fine.”

Wheeler said his first game in charge was a big eye-opener.

But that doesn’t mean he’s underestimated the size of the task as Maidstone look to recover from their worst start in three years as a National League club.

He said: “No, it's not a bigger job than I thought.

“It's always a big job with the size of the club.

“I was fully aware what we were going into and it's something we're still very confident on.

“That doesn't change because of a game. We'll get to work very quickly and we'll try and get this turned around.”

Five-goal top scorer Blair Turgott and Jamar Loza are available after suspension.