Jimmy Gray, St Albans City’s joint-manager, is hoping for a bit of luck after seeing his side go down to Gosport Borough.

City’s 3-1 defeat on Tuesday night sees them becoming increasingly cut adrift at the foot of the Vanarama National League South table.

Saints are now two places and five points away from safety but Gray saw enough in the game to say they can get out of the mire, and thinks all they need is luck.

He said: “I took a load of positives out of that to be fair. I know we’ve lost 3-1 and people on the outside may not think so but I thought we were the better side on the night.

“And I don’t very often say that.

“We’ve conceded three very soft goals again tonight. They threw their bodies on the line, I don’t know how many blocked shots we’ve had. We’ve hit the post; we’ve had one cleared off the line towards the end.

“We huffed and puffed and I thought it was a big improvement from Saturday.

“But at the minute we are deserted of any type of luck. We have to keep our heads up. Saturday was a lonely place and it’s been a lonely place until tonight’s performance.

“I thought the boys we brought in gave us an injection and what can I say? We’ve lost 3-1 but I’m pleased with the performance.”

After losing to Weston-super-Mare on Saturday, St Albans owed their fans a performance and for the first 20 minutes it appeared they were going to get it.

But there was a nervousness which came into their play once the first goal went in, something Gray is acutely aware of.

He said: “It’s been the story of our season so far. We haven’t scored anywhere near enough goals.

“But it wasn’t for the lack of trying tonight. First half, especially the first 20 minutes, we were raining goals in. We need a little bit of luck.

“At times we looked a little bit toothless up front. Whether it’s the movement or the final ball in, something needs to be worked on and we do work on it.

“That’s one thing we need to address but we need a little bit of luck in my eyes.

“We did try to press tonight and you could see that for the first half hour.

“I thought their first goal was against the run of play. There wasn’t really much of a threat from then.

“We seemed to have the possession, we pressed really well and we had energy. Unfortunately the way we are it affected us. The second goal is an absolute killer.

“Nothing is won or lost in November, we’ve still got plenty of games to put it right but we need to start picking up sooner rather than later.”