St Albans City joint manager James Gray says an obvious lack of quality, especially in the final third, was to blame for Tuesday’s loss.

The Saints created very little in a very disjointed display at Priory Lane. Too often they opted to heave long balls to Simon Thomas which were flicked to the goalkeeper or out of play.

When they did have the ball at their feet in dangerous positions, misplaced passes, heavy touches and wrong decisions meant chances went begging.

“It’s tough at the minute. I think we need a pick me up and to create something and get a couple of goals,” admitted Gray in his post-match interview.

“Again tonight, we created very little. There was not a lot of get anybody going and we conceded another soft goal. It’s tough to take.

“Eastbourne were half decent and workman like but we didn’t deal with a lot of the threats they gave us and didn’t create anywhere near enough at the other end.”

He added: “I’m not going to pull no punches. Three or four had really bad games and no where near the standards they can play, and collectively, especially in the final third, we were devoid of ideas.”

Louie Theophanous has cut a frustrated figure in his first four games as a Saint. His performances, while rusty, have been promising and his golden boot winning form from two years ago doesn’t look too far off.

Currently, though, he’s not scoring goals, and neither is anybody else, which is the root of City’s problems.

“I’m not blaming the strikers; I’m blaming everything from start to finish,” said Gray.

“We’ve scored one in four – which was by a striker, Louie. Where are the rest of the goals? How many times are we knocking corners in and throw ins. Who’s chipping in with goals? We’re not even testing the goalkeeper at the moment.”

The Saints have one point from 12 and there’s very little to be positive about, especially after Tuesday’s dismal performance. Gray, however, isn’t projecting a downcast attitude.

“It’s going from bad to worse but we’ve got another game on Saturday so we can’t be too downbeat or sulk about it; we’ve got to get it right for Saturday,” he said.