Sam Merson’s late goal rescued a point for St Albans City at home to Oxford City but manager Ian Allinson felt it was still “two points dropped”.

City’s striker pounced on a loose ball three minutes from time in the 1-1 draw at Clarence Park and there was still chances to win it after that.

Merson’s goal was his third in three games, following strikes at Truro City and Hertford Town, and Allinson was pleased for his striker.

The City boss said: “He’s done really well but he’s had a run in the side.

“I decided a couple of weeks ago that we were swapping him and Charlie Walker in and out and I felt we needed to settle things down.

“But Sam has repaid the faith we have in him. He’s been unlucky just before with an easier chance. His touch was unbelievable and I don’t think he’s realised how much time he has.

“But we’ve had enough chances and that’s my frustration.

“For me we’ve dropped two points. We’ve done enough to win the game but the players deserve credit for the way they came back.”

City were undone by their first half performanceid nothing to warm the hearts or hands of the 506-strong crowd.

Oxford took advantage of that, with Rob Sinclair’s 20th minute strike giving the visitors the lead.

Allinson said: “They’ve had a tough month with Notts County last week and Truro on Tuesday but I think we showed them a little too much respect early on.

“We weren’t in the game, we were second best all over the park and we couldn’t get to grips with their patterns of play.

“And I felt we were a little bit lazy early on.

“But once we got to grips in the second half, we started to press and squeeze them higher up the park and in the end how we haven’t come away with three points is beyond me.

“But that’s the story of our season. We’ve had plenty of opportunities and have probably had another 10 or 12 today, and we’ve only scored one.

“We started on the back foot, we were very flat and we wanted too many touches.

“For me we were a team of individuals in the first half whereas the second half we came together and we really showed how good we can be at times.

“We pressed them high up, we moved the ball quick, got behind their midfield and we created five or six chances that we really should have scored from.”