Joint manager James Gray believes St Albans City are a step closer to ‘where they need to be’ after seeing his side beat Bashley 2-1 on Saturday.

The Saints have been struggling for form as of late but an improved performance, capped by goals from John Frendo and Kerrea Gilbert, had the management feeling optimistic for the final five games of the season.

“I’m very pleased,” said Gray in his post-match interview.

“We went a goal down and could have capitulated but we stuck at it and it was a fair result. We were the team trying to force the issue; we tried to play and we did play good stuff in patches.

“We’re closer to where we need to be and it was a better performance.”

He added: “It’s a good three points; we’ve won 10 from the last 12 so we’re on a good little run again.

“I’m pleased with where we are. Results have gone for us, we’re going to need that, and we need to keep looking after ourselves, which we have done recently.”

Gray had earmarked the games against Bedford Town, Bashley and Burnham as nine points and so far his team has delivered.

A win against Burnham on Saturday, according to Gray, will set up City for the games against Hemel Hempstead and Poole Town.

“We have got another job to do on Saturday,” he said.

“We’ve got a week’s rest, which will be nice. We’ve brought in a few new faces and it time for them to understand what you want. It’s good that we have a week to rest players, too.”

He added: “[Burnham] is the big one; three points from Burnham will be a nice return from the last three games.

“I don’t feel like we’re cemented the play-offs yet so we need to keep working hard. Everyone saw what happened at Corby and Truro, another run like that and we’re in trouble.

“We’ll take one game at a time.”