Dean Snedker’s hard work prior to the game helped St Albans City into the final of the Herts Senior Cup as they defeated Watford in a penalty shoot-out.

The goalkeeper revealed that a scouting report from Ian Allinson, who had went to watch the young Hornets side in the previous round, had given him the tools to deal with the drama of penalties at a rain-soaked Clarence Park.

And two saves later, plus one effort fired over the bar, meant successful conversions from Jordan Sanderson, Zane Banton and Michael Clark sent Saints into the final.

Snedker said: “The gaffer spoke to me before kick-off. He’d watched them against Bishop’s Stortford in the previous shoot-out and gave me a couple of names and where they went before and it obviously paid off so happy days.

“They say it’s only the Herts Senior Cup but its silverware and we want to win that cup.

“And it’s big for the club. We can use it as motivation going into the rest of the season so it’s nothing to complain about.”

Saints have seen results start to pick up over the last few games, a sequence that has lifted them back towards the fringes of the National South play-offs.

Snedker has played his part in that with some starring performances and big saves through January.

And he says the belief and confidence he has is matched by the rest of his team-mates.

“Confidence is high,” he admitted. “We’ve made a couple of signings and we’ve got Liam [Sole] who’s come in from MK and gave us that pace on the wing.

“But the squad is very confident at the moment and hopefully we can take it into Hungerford on Saturday and get another three points.

“Obviously I’m just trying my hardest for the team and trying my best to keep clean sheets.

“We did that against Hampton and three points and a clean sheet is always the goal.

“But I feel I’ve been playing well myself and the best thing for me is to keep the consistency and the run of games going.

“That helps me in my performance.”

He added: “The play-offs are our main goal this season. Dartford won on Tuesday with a late goal to push us out of them but we will go again on Saturday, using the confidence from beating Watford to get another three points.”