STRIKER Akanni-Sunday Wasiu expressed his delight for the team after helping St Albans City secure Blue Square South survival. The powerful Nigerian, known at City as Sunday, struck twice to spark a sensational win against Eastleigh

STRIKER Akanni-Sunday Wasiu expressed his delight for the team after helping St Albans City secure Blue Square South survival.

The powerful Nigerian, known at City as Sunday, struck twice to spark a sensational win against Eastleigh at Clarence Park on Saturday. The victory, coupled with a 3-3 draw for Weston-super-Mare against Basingstoke Town on Monday, left Saints needing just a point for safety which they duly collected at Maidenhead United on Tuesday.

Things were not looking so bright for City on Saturday when Eastleigh led at half time due to a dubious penalty but Sunday was always confident the side would turn around the deficit and secure the win. He said: "We wanted to do this and we had to put it in our mind that we were going to win. When we were 1-0 down we were still keeping our heads up because we knew we needed the points. When we got to the dressing room at half time we had to remain confident or maybe we would have lost the game. I thought that in the second half it would be our time to do something because we were playing down the slope and Eastleigh had put all their energy into the first half."

Leyton Orient youngster Bradley Gray helped City turn the match around with the equaliser just after the hour mark and less than a minute later, Sunday weaved his way clear of two defenders and fired home. Sunday said: "When we got the equaliser I was very happy and then I got my chance. Paul Hakim gave me the ball and I did my best to run clear. When I picked the ball up I thought to shoot but I thought the defender would have caught up and got something on it. So I decided to delay a little bit and then hit it. When I hit it I thought that it was going towards the post but I was happy when it went in."

Crucially Sunday notched his second of the game on 74 minutes when he chased down Eastleigh goalkeeper Jason Matthews and forced the mistake which allowed a simple finish into an empty net. Sunday had threatened to embarrass the goalkeeper in the first half and was biding his time for the right moment. He said: "In the first half the goalkeeper got away with it but this time I tried to trick him. I pretended I was going to the right and I went to the left side and got the ball so I am very happy about that. It was important for the team."

The brace was just reward for the front man who has played a key role in the impressive run of 21 points from 10 games to secure safety. Twice he was denied the credit for goals when his efforts hit Lee Clarke and Paul Hakim before finding the net and Sunday said: "When I have tried to score goals before so many of the other strikers have been putting something on it, even their hand or something so I didn't get the goals.