A third game without defeat has David Noble hoping that St Albans City have turned their back on their poor form this season and are now looking up rather than down.

A 3-0 success at Bath City in the league last Saturday was followed by a 2-0 victory over Royston Town in the Herts Senior Cup.

And even though the 0-0 draw with Oxford City doesn't free Saints from the clutches of the relegation dogfight, the skipper is pleased with the change in fortunes.

He said: "We had a couple of chances in the first half and it was a much better performance against the wind than with it.

"The second half was difficult as it was just carrying through to the goalie.

"Joe's hit the bar and we had a couple of half chances but there are positives like the clean sheet and it is not a disappointed changing room. People's heads are up and we've made the turn."

Saints sit third from bottom of the National League South, nine points ahead of bottom club Hungerford Town and two above Tonbridge Angels, although the Kent side do have four games in hand.

The five teams directly above City are all within three points too and Noble says there are still going to be plenty of twists and turns over the final 11 games.

"I don't know what happens but in every league in the world but as soon as it comes to the crunch the teams that are down the bottom start winning," he said.

"You can't rely on other teams to lose because they don't. You've got to do it yourself.

"Was it a point gained or two points dropped [against Oxford]? I'd say it was a point gained."

As well as a difficult opposition, the match at Clarence Park was also played against the backdrop of the prologue of Storm Dennis that was barrelling towards Hertfordshire.

That brought stiff winds and persistent rain and for a man who has seen everything in football, it was still a difficult working environment.

"I think it was worse than Weymouth and that was a bad one," he said with a smile.

"It was really soft and heavy and the wind always mucks about with football.

"It's difficult to play in the wind but you have the rain and heavy pitch as well.

"I thought we were pretty good in spells. I'm a little disappointed but I'm not too bad."