Ian Allinson believes that setting up the academy was the right call for St Albans City - and that they are already seeing the benefits.

With the majority of last year's squad re-signed for another year at Clarence Park, Munashe Sundire the biggest exception so far after moving to National League King's Lynn Town, the thoughts of the City boss are already firmly on promotion next season.

But having the likes of Huw Dawson and Alex Lankshear already part of his squad eases any headaches of having to sign a lot of new players.

Allinson said: "They are both energetic lads and there are five or six lads in the academy who could move up if we have to.

"It’s good knowing that I’ve got that support in the background and that if we did have an injury crisis, then the academy boys are good enough to step in.

"Huw looks like he could come into that midfield role and do a very similar job to what David Noble has done over the year.

"He’s technically very good and his stature is growing, physically he’s starting to build into a man.

"Alex is the same and he has a lot of things going for him in terms of his size and shape and his pace and power.

"They are really good signings for us and shows the process we’ve made with bringing the academy through is correct.

"It also gives us that 18 or 19-man squad with them in it but I’d like to see both in the team on a regular basis."

It also helps drag the average age down further on what is already a fairly young squad.

"Yes, there’s David Noble and David Diedhiou, but every single person other than them is under 30. A lot are 24 and under.

"We’ll evolve because that’s what happens in football but if you have success, then people tend to stay loyal.

"What we did last year was good and I can’t see any reason why we can’t maintain that this season, certainly if we maintain the same sort of level of intensity and consistency.

"After the Sutton game [in the FA Trophy] I felt we had a really good side here.

"We fell away only because of the disruptions to the squad and the disruption of football in general."