A first goal for John Goddard and a winner from Mitchell Weiss, all in the final 10 minutes, saw St Albans City maintain their unbeaten run by beating Eastbourne Borough.

They had trailed for more than an hour to the south coast club at Clarence Park but the 2-1 win means it is now six straight wins and eight without defeat in National League South.

And with Dartford losing for the first time, they are now just one point off the top spot.

Goddard said: "I’ve had a few chances and I’d like to have a few more goals by now but hopefully more will follow. 

"I was conscious that after I scored that we needed to get the ball. We wanted to go and get the winner and that says a lot about the group and where we are at the minute. 

"Obviously I was pleased when the second hit the back of the net. 

"It was a difficult game and sometimes you have to do different things to break the opposition down. 

"They were very well organised and sat quite deep and frustrated us at times. 

"But one thing we’ve been good at since I joined is rotating, picking up different positions, and we’ve got the players to do that. 

"We’re all very much part of a team and you don’t get success if you don’t do the defensive duties."

Manager Ian Allinson said some well-chosen words at half-time were needed to turn round a poor showing in the opening 45 minutes.

He said: "I’m disappointed with our first-half performance and we didn’t turn up. That’s not like us and I told them at half-time what I expected. 

"But you could see the reaction in the second half and we went to another level. 

"We got the energy back in there, we got the enthusiasm back in there, we started to pass it sharp and quick and we were a different team. 

"In the end we got what we deserved because of the chances we created in the second half. 

"But they had two big chances to put the game to bed so there is still lots to work on ahead of next weekend."