James Gray says he wants St Albans City to become a force in the Vanarama South – and has spoken about his delight that striker John Frendo has returned to form.

His frontman scored the only goal of the game as the Saints beat Bath City in the league on Saturday, and netted twice in the 2-0 victory over Kings Langley in the Herts Senior Challenge Cup on Tuesday.

Gray says he is pleased with his side’s form going into the Christmas period, as the Saints have lost just once in their past five matches, and the joint-manager hopes for better times ahead for his men.

“It [will give] great confidence to him”, Gray told Saintsnet.

“After [his goal against Bath] his movement was something that maybe we haven’t seen for a couple of weeks with the pressure of not getting a goal and I could sense that it was a really big lift off his shoulders and I thought he played really well.

“We’ve got a big, busy period coming up over Christmas.

“We’re in a good little bit of form, but myself and Graham [Golds, joint-manager] keep sitting down week in, week out and this is a learning curve for him and me.

“We’re still learning about this league and what it’s going to take to be a challenge in this league, to be a force to be reckoned with, and over time we’ll get it right. We’ll prove to be the side to beat in this league I’m sure of it.”