St Albans City flattered to deceive in their goalless Vanarama Conference South draw with Staines Town, according to joint manager James Gray.

Neither side fully tested the goalkeepers in a drab affair at Clarence Park. Steve Wales hit the post and Michael Malcolm forced Jack Turner to tip over a fierce drive but there was little in the way of goalmouth action.

The point lifted City up to 15th in the table and confirmed Staines’ relegation.

Gray cut a frustrated figure after the game and summed up the game as ‘garbage’.

“It was so frustrating; in the final third, quality wise, we were awful,” he said. “We need to be a lot better. To score, you at least have to hit the target. We had 13 shots off target and two on target, that’s not a good enough return.”

After an excellent performance in their 2-0 win over Weston-super-Mare two weeks ago, Gray was looking for a good result against the league’s bottom side. Instead, it was another game where City’s cutting edge deserted them.

“Time after time this season we’ve had good opportunities and not put the ball away, today was another one of them,” he said. “We flattered to deceived and our passing wasn’t crisp. The pitch is awful so we gave the boys a little bit of leeway but they said they didn’t rise to the occasion.”

Gray revealed that in an attack versus defence drill at training on Thursday, the players failed to score. While City’s attacking players replicated their fruitless display, the defence was stout.

“Omar [Beckles] and [Darren] Locke did well, as did James Kaloczi before we brought him off as a precaution because he’s on nine bookings,” he said. “We’ll take the positives. It’s another clean sheet, our second in a row. Hopefully we get better over the Bank Holiday weekend.”