When asked what the secret behind St Albans City's upturn in form was since his appointment as manager, David Noble gave a typically humble response.

"I don't know," he replied with a smile.

The new City boss has accrued 36 points from 19 games and taken St Albans City from 15th place to sixth place in the National League South table.

The latest success was a 2-1 victory over Hampton & Richmond Borough at Clarence Park but the manager put the praise onto his players.

Noble said: "I give the boys the license to do what they love - to play football, attacking football, fast free-flowing football.

"I can’t go out there and do it for them, I can only give instructions, but the squad have been different class this year."

The boss pointed towards the character of his team as they recovered from the set-back of a fourth-minute goal against to win with strikes from Shaun Jeffers and Zane Banton.

He said: "We didn't start well and obviously conceded early. We just didn’t come out the blocks as we should and we got punished for that.

"But we showed great character to put that behind us and score two goals and create three or four really great chances in the first half.

"A couple of offsides and maybe the final pass was just missing but obviously going in 2-1 up, it was always going to be a difficult scoreline. [Hampton & Richmond] came out and had a go.

"They were leaving three players up front and looking to get something out of the game so it was never dead."

There was an incident at the start of the second half when Ryan Blackman appeared to clip the heels of Hampton & Richmond attacker Alfy Whitingham in the City box and the home midfielder was already on a yellow card.

The referee saw it as a dive though and the Saints boss declared they had been "a bit lucky there".

But there were positives in the second half, one of which was the introduction of highly-rated youngster Chay Cooper, who joined on loan from Colchester United in the week.

He hit the post and combined well with the other attackers, one being fellow youngster loanee Glenn McConnell, in his 25-minute cameo.

Noble is happy to have both even if the deals are only temporary.

He said: "It’s not about the age, it’s about good players and they’ve become available and as you can see they’re both little magicians.

"I think the fans and everyone involved in the club is in for a treat for the rest of the season."