Ian Allinson felt his side had “stole a victory” but certainly wasn’t complaining with St Albans City’s historic 3-0 win at Bath City.

It was Saints’ first win at Twerton Park in their 111-year history, the anniversary of their formation ironically celebrated on the same day, and goals from Clovis Kamdjo, Sam Merson and Ben Wyatt ensured it was a happy birthday.

But Allinson was brutally honest when he said the score flattered them.

“It’s probably the toughest game we’ve had in a while,” he said. “We couldn’t leave too many holes with the way they play, they like to get runners in behind, so we had to be really disciplined.

“In some ways we’ve come here and stole a victory but sometimes you have to win ugly.

“They are a very good side and they will cause plenty of teams problems.

“But we got our rewards thanks to our discipline.

“And it was nice to keep a clean sheet and come away with a comfortable win according to the score.

“It wasn’t comfortable at all and it wasn’t a 3-0 game but I’ll take it all day long because there have been games this year where we’ve played well but come away with nothing.”

Kamdjo had headed St Albans in front from a Khale Da Costa delivery after 15 minutes and Merson’s strike nine minutes after the restart also came via his head.

Wyatt wrapped things up in stoppage time and the result means City have now moved into the last play-off place with three games to go.

And Allinson believes the squad could well be hitting form at just the right time.

He said: “People listened to what they were told and they listened even more at half-time in terms of how we were playing and giving them less space.

“And second half we defended really well.

“I’m pleased we’re in the play-offs but we’ve now got to finish the job off.

“It’s going to be tough and we’re under no illusions.

“We’ve got three really tough games left but we’ve got to try and win as many as we can.”