St Albans City’s faithful played a part in the team winning the point they ‘deserved’ at Vauxhall Road, according to joint manager James Gray.

The build up to Saturday’s local derby between league leader Hemel Hempstead and the Saints billed the game as a potential blockbuster with two of the top scoring teams going head-to-head. And it continued during the team’s warm ups with both sets of fans getting into their noisy stride.

Unfortunately the action on the pitch failed to match the hype. The atmosphere off it, though, was ‘brilliant’.

“It felt like a proper derby and proper football match,” said Gray, following the goalless draw.

“It was one of those games where the tension was high. The lads wanted to give the fans more to cheer about but it was never going to happen. But the fans never stopped singing, cheering and shouting and we gave them a clap afterwards because we really appreciated it.

“If they didn’t then we might not have got the point we deserved.”