MIDFIELDER Sam Hurrell impressed on his debut for St Albans City as he netted the winning goal to defeat Bognor Regis Town. The left-sided player was included in the starting XI

MIDFIELDER Sam Hurrell impressed on his debut for St Albans City as he netted the winning goal to defeat Bognor Regis Town.

The left-sided player was included in the starting XI as manager Steve Castle was without midfielders Hassan Sulaiman and Ben Bowditch. Consequently Jonathan Hunt was switched into a central midfield role which he relished alongside Luke Thurlbourne and Castle balanced his midfield up with Hurrell on the left and the speedy Gary Cohen on the right.

Hurrell proved a menace to the Bognor defence in the early stages with some good runs and dangerous crosses from the left flank. On 22 minutes he announced his arrival at the club to the City fans with the decisive strike as he ran onto a clever pass from Simon Martin and placed his shot calmly into the net.

Castle praised Hurrell for his debut display and was happy with the way his midfield four shaped up. He said: "Sam Hurrell came in and did very well. He is naturally left footed and Jonathan Hunt has been itching to play centrally. With the aggression and work rate of Luke Thurlbourne they compliment each other and Gary Cohen is pure pace and gives us that little bit more of an attacking option.

"Sam is a good option that we can look at. It was terrific for him to get the goal on his debut. He came in and it was on the back of Tuesday (practice match against Leyton Orient) when he looked good and I decided to put him in.