The lack of permanent training facilities through pre-season has been a major factor in St Albans City's inability to put teams to the sword says manager Ian Allinson.

Saints have enjoyed a solid start to the new National League South campaign with just the one defeat from the opening six games.

But some of the performances, in particular the ones at home which have yet to yield a goal or a win, have not been ones which could be defined as swashbuckling.

And the City boss believes the way they came into the campaign hasn't helped.

Allinson said: "Pre-season for us wasn’t great for us because we didn’t have the best training facilities.

"We trained on a rock-hard pitch up at the girls’ school, that’s not their fault, it was just the weather, but we have now managed to get a plastic pitch midweek which helps.

"And hopefully we’ll have a permanent one for the rest of the season.

"Performances weren’t at the level but that was because of the facilities we had at our disposal.

"This is all the things we need to as a club to improve.

"We’re defending better than we did last year but we are not creating enough chances and we don’t look like creating them.

"We not asking them to defend, it is just the way teams have set up against us.

"They show us respect, which is nice, but it doesn’t help me that we have to score a goal at home and repay some of the faithful that turn up week in, week out with some goals and some victories."

The fact the squad is decimated by injury at the minute is not helping either with the mounting medical issues forcing Allinson to name David Noble on the bench at Tonbridge Angels on bank holiday Monday.

"The squad is 16 with David Noble," said Allinson. "I don’t think [anyone will be back sooner rather than later]

"We are looking at getting a couple of scans for Munashe [Sundire] and Mitchell [Weiss].

"They are not major injuries, they are more muscle injuries in and around the calf area and every time they start to do something, they break down again.

"We need to have a look at the scans to see if there is a tear in there or a strain which may mean instead of giving them two weeks, we have to give them four."