A hugely disappointed Ian Allinson praised the defensive capabilities of his side after St Albans City came close to snatching victory at Woking.

Herts Advertiser: St Albans City's David Diedhiou earned praise for his defensive performance at Woking. Picture: Karyn HaddonSt Albans City's David Diedhiou earned praise for his defensive performance at Woking. Picture: Karyn Haddon (Image: Archant)

They had taken the lead with 10 minutes to go through David Moyo but two goals in the next six minutes handed the Surrey side the victory.

However, City’s manager felt that was harsh on his side and David Diedhiou in particular.

He said: “We’ve defended ever so well they’ve had lots of corners but we’ve defended them well and then we’ve worked extremely hard to get 1-0 up.

“We were strong and it was unfortunate that David picked up a bit of an injury that he was carrying.

“We probably should have taken him off at half time but I wanted to keep him on because of his size and height.

“He won some big headers for us, some tremendous headers, put in some terrific tackles and it was no coincidence that once he went off, we’ve conceded two goals from set-pieces.

“That’s disappointing because he was a colossus for us defensively and we missed him in that area.

“We also took Sam Merson off and he’s a good header of the ball so we lost a little bit of height but we just didn’t set-up quickly enough for the corner which led to their equaliser.

“It was a little lack of discipline because they were chasing the game and if we could have seen it out for another three or four minutes, there would have also been the opportunity to nick something on the counter attack.”

That equaliser had arrived two minutes after Moyo’s wonder strike and had seen referee Alex Blake point to one side for a corner.

“It was difficult,” said Allinson. “We’ve had some players set up that side but we didn’t react quick enough when they took it from the other side.

“And then we lost our discipline in the last 10 minutes. Percy [Kiangebeni] has got a silly booking and Ben Herd has made two silly tackles and we’re down to 10 men and chasing the game again.

“I’m massively disappointed with the result in the end because for the shift they put in and the effort they put in the players deserved more.”