Jimmy Gray, St Albans City joint-manager, has left his players in no doubt what he expects after a nervy 2-1 FA Cup win over Deal Town – shape up or ship out.

A clearly emotional boss was not happy with his side’s performance despite Louie Theophanous and an own goal helping Saints progress to the third qualifying round.

He said: “It was a perfect opportunity to try and entertain, to get the ball down and play. We played 4-4-2 to give us some width but it never materialised.

“There were so many unforced errors and sloppy passing. The boys want to play that style to pass and move. But if you can’t pass and you can’t move it’s very difficult and I felt today we were way below.”

And he admitted that drastic action might now be needed, as time is running out on Saints’ stuttering start to the year.

He went on: “I just feel that some of the boys may not be up to this level of football at the minute.

“There’s no two ways about it, they’re going before I get the sack.

“They have got to pull their fingers out. I’m not sitting around, waiting for them to come good.

“If they’ve not done it in the next week or so they will be down the road and I’ll be trying to freshen it up and change it because I’m not happy at that performance.

“I do believe, and I still firmly believe, that the quality is in that squad. It’s how many times you can wait for it to happen.”

However he also admitted that getting into the next round was vital and he is looking ahead to the next round.

“We want a home draw,” he said. “You might say you’d want someone out of the lower leagues but I don’t think that worked for us today.

“We’ll see what the draw brings on Monday.

“Whoever it is hopefully we can put on a better performance in the next round.”