Ian Allinson praised the professionalism of his St Albans City side as a 3-0 win finally got them through their FA Cup second round qualifying round clash with Corinthian Casuals.
Two goals in the first 14 minutes from Ralston Gabriel paved the way for Saints’ passage to the next stage, with Dave Diedhiou’s second-half header confirming their trip to Taunton Town on Wednesday night.
And the City boss thought the approach of his players was top-notch.
He said: “I thought the way we started the game in going 2-0 up was extremely professional and it could have been three and four by half-time. Their goalkeeper has made an absolute worldie just before the break.
“And then Lewis Knight has a header over in the second half and the keeper has made another good save from another corner.
“But then we had a 10-minute spell where we took our foot off the pedal and did some silly things, probably over passed in wrong areas, and gave them one or two really good chances.
“The one that just went past the post from a cross, if that goes in with 15 minutes to go it makes it a really tricky finish.
“But we got the third goal to settle everything down and see the game out.
“And overall I was really pleased. We approached the game right and did the job early on.”
Allinson made four changes for the replay and with his already-thin squad stretched to its limits, any rest gained now could prove vital.
“We’ve only got 14 or 15 players today with Richard Sho-Silva injured so [strengthening] is something we’ve got to look into.
“But it’s important that we keep everybody sharp and playing football as we’re going into a period where we play Wednesday, then Saturday, and if we draw [at Taunton] the replay would be Tuesday and if we get through we’ll play the Saturday after so everybody’s got to be sharp.
“We’ll train Monday and prepare and go down on Wednesday. That extra 24 hours is fantastic in terms of Clovis Kamdjo and David Noble [getting a rest].
“We’ll see where we are. Solomon can come back in, Ben Herd can come back in and we’ve got Sam Merson and Zane Banton as well.
“And we’ve got Jacob Rees-Gardiner now so we’ve got good options now.”
Because of the saga surrounding this tie, the third qualifying round in the west country has yet to feature in the mind of the former Arsenal and Luton man, although he admits that will change immediately.
He said: “It’s been more frustrating because we haven’t had time to plan and prepare.
I haven’t done any homework yet on Taunton, which I’m going to have to do from now until Wednesday night, as I didn’t want to pre-empt anything.
“We’ve got some work to do but we’ve got to go there and be brave and positive.
“If you’re winning games of football you’ll always have a good dressing room.
“It’s how you react to a defeat that counts.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here