Defences were on top as St Albans City and Hayes and Yeading played out a 1-1 draw in their Vanarama National League South game at Clarence Park.

Former Saint, Elliot Benyon, fired the visitors ahead four minutes before the break, only for Louie Theophanous to nab his sixth of the campaign four minutes after the restart.

St Albans have had an upturn in fortunes recently, losing only one of the last four games, and they almost made the perfect start.

Theophanous found himself clear after just a minute but, with the expected offside flag not materialising, the striker saw his shot pushed behind for a corner.

Hayes almost made a quick start themselves with Ismael Ehui getting clear two minutes later but his shot went straight at Joe Welch.

The blistering start soon petered out however, with neither team able to break down two stubborn defences.

Hayes came closest, Benyon heading onto the crossbar after 25 minutes. But he made no mistake with time running out at the end of the first half.

A quick break, which came from a St Albans corner, saw Ehui’s shot saved by Welch. The rebound however fell to Benyon who netted from 12 yards.

City came out much brighter in the second half and soon levelled things up.

Theophanous expertly sprung the offside trap and coolly finished passed the advancing keeper.

Saints had a big penalty shout turned down on 64 minutes when substitute Ade Yusuff went down. Mr Purkiss seemed as if he was going to blow, bringing the whistle towards his lips, before thinking better of it.

Theophanous and Yusuff failed to connect properly from close range, when any decent hit would have probably brought a goal. And an unmarked Yusuff headed over as City pushed for a winner.

The best chance came deep into injury time.

Theophanous seemed set to bring the home faithful to their feet, only to have the ball brilliantly pinched from his toes as he was about to pull the trigger.

Attention now turns to the FA Cup next Saturday when St Albans welcome Deal Town to Clarence Park.