Both manager Ian Allinson and Ben Wyatt felt St Albans City could and probably should have taken all three points against Eastbourne Borough.

The National League South game at Clarence Park ended in a 1-1 draw, Harold Joseph’s own-goal cancelling out Ralston Gabriel’s opener.

But Saints, who were much better than seven days earlier against Oxford City, were on top for the most part and certainly created enough.

Wing-back Wyatt said: “To be honest we’re all disappointed and think it’s two points dropped, that’s how we’re looking at.

“We had chances in the first half particularly which we think was our best 45 minutes.

“We probably should have taken them and probably should have won the game.”

His manager was of the same opinion.

Allinson said: “I thought we were excellent first half and moved the ball really quick.

“Some of the quality in the final third wasn’t the best but some of the players were complaining about the length of the grass.

“The second half became a drab affair and we were looking for a spark.

“I felt we deserved to go in at half-time more than one goal in front.

“We’ve had some really good chances and not hit the target and perhaps that was our downfall.”

The one plus point for the City boss was the improvement from Oxford and he was delighted that his players had taken his words on board and tried to reproduce the work they had put in during this week’s training.

He said: “We’ve worked really hard in training this week on working from getting the ball from one side to the other and I thought we did really well.

“I felt we were better than them, first half especially and got into some great positions.

“We created three or four really good chances but didn’t take them.

“I was really pleased with the work ethic and I was really pleased with the pattern of play and that we tried to execute the things we’d worked on in training.

“Last week wasn’t good enough for me but I’ve seen an up turn in terms of performance, of attitude, aggression and working really hard.”

Some fans though were disappointed that the boss had only opted to make substitutions in the final minute when they had hoped he would freshen things up earlier.

Allinson, however, felt that with the game finely balanced he was right to bide his time.

“Sometimes you make changes, sometimes you don’t,” he said.

“We’ve got a game on Monday so that was in the back of my mind. We might have to change one or two players then.

“Whether changes happen is down to the situation at the time and today I didn’t think this was the time to make any.”