Ian Allinson wants his side to take the positives from their FA Cup exit to Boreham Wood as they face a tricky run of fixtures back in the Vanarama National League South.

City lost 3-1 to their Hertfordshire neighbours at Clarence Park, meaning they missed out on a third consecutive appearance in the first round proper.

But while the performance of referee David Rock was the subject of most post-game conversations, there was also a feeling that Saints had shown they can compete with sides from the division above.

The manager agreed with that sentiment but knows there is still a long way to go.

He said: “The games against Hungerford, Hampton & Richmond Borough and Dartford won’t make or break the season but they will go a long way to getting to where we want to be.

“We told the players at the end of the game that Boreham Wood have got a lot of quality players and we’ve got a lot of young boys who are starting to learn they are capable of competing.

“We’ve got to use that to our advantage because there wasn’t a lot between the two sides.

“We’ve got to believe and carry that forward but we can’t get carried away just because we’ve had one game against a higher side and we’ve done ok because all that will happen is we’ll get our backsides kicked and we’ll have to start again.

“We’ve got to learn from it. We’ve got to take on board the mistakes that we’ve made, we’ve got to take on board learning from the defeat which we can do.

“We’re still not the finished article and we still need to bring one or two players in but that will only happen as we go through the weeks and months.”

Hungerford Town are the visitors on Saturday before Saints head to opposite sides of London, against Hampton & Richmond Borough on Tuesday and then Dartford the following weekend.

The club will be hoping the performances in the last two home fixtures, against Bath City and Wood, both of which came in front of crowds of around 1,500, will tempt some to come back.

Allinson said: “The support was fantastic and it was great to see almost 1,500 in here again.

“Hopefully they’ve seen what we’re trying to do because they got behind the players. They didn’t give up on us which was nice to see and when we got the goal it gave them a lift.”