Ian Allinson has backed star striker Shaun Jeffers to come good after his penalty miss against Worthing cost St Albans City a point.

Saints had conceded what turned out to be an 86th minute winner at home to the south coast club but last year's top scorer had the opportunity to rescue a point in the last minute but his spot-kick was saved.

Had it gone in, it would have been their first goal of the season at Clarence Park, now renamed the Mozzarella Fellas Stadium.

As it is, City have now gone four games without scoring and have picked up just two points.

Jeffers has managed just two so far this year and the Saints boss has backed his captain and fellow forwards to come good.

He said: "Shaun scored seven out of seven last year [from the spot] and was always going to miss one.

"It’s just a shame that he missed because it would have been great for us to get something out of this game.

"The way the second half panned out it would have been good and given us a little bit of a lift considering how good they are as a side."

Allinson was disappointed that his side did not go a goal up in the first 25 minutes after they had a few good chances but conceded that Worthing were the better side for the rest of the game.

"I certainly felt in the first 25 minutes we had three unbelievable chances," said the Saints manager.

"They then started to dictate the game and we didn't defend well enough from the front.

"They scored an absolute worldie but we then had a spell where we kept the ball well.

"We were brave and had nothing to lose and that was disappointing because I felt we could have done that earlier. Then we get the penalty."

Allinson gave high praise to the opposition.

He said: "I think they were very good on the ball, they passed it very well.

"We couldn’t get too far forward because they had the ability to put the ball in behind us and we went too long. We should have kept the ball a bit longer than we did.

"We looked a bit tired in that last 10 minutes too.

"We know the pitch is quite sapping in terms of your energy and I felt they managed that better than us."