‘We’ll turn this around quite quickly’ vows St Albans boss

Ian Allinson has backed his “smashing bunch of players” to start climbing back up the Vanarama National League South after their 2-1 defeat at league leaders Dartford.

It was a result which means Saints have only claimed 10 points from the last 30 available and sees them slip to fifth in the table.

But that run has only seen four defeats and City remain just three points off the league’s summit.

And after a fantastic display at Princes Park, where they dominated for long periods, Allinson has no fears that the wins will soon return.

He said: “It’s been a tough week as we’ve only taken one point out of nine. But if we were performing to the levels we were in February and March last season, I’d be worried.

“But I’m really pleased with what I’ve got in there. We are picking injuries up and we have a small squad but I’ll take that little bunch in there all day long.

“They’ve been great for me, they’ve been great for this football club and they work their cotton socks off.

“They just need a little bit of luck and the small margins to go our way again and we’ll turn this around quite quickly and start climbing back up this league.

“And we’ll be a force for most teams in the league as apart from 30 minutes against Braintree, we’ve not been outplayed by anyone, and I think most clubs would agree with us.

“They’re a smashing bunch of players and if they keep believing in what they are doing and trying to win game in the right way, then they will be ok.”

City had fell behind early on six minutes and it looked as if their day would get worse when Harold Joseph went off injured before the quarter-hour mark.

But that saw Allinson bring on Charlie Walker as City switched to two up front.

Walker got the equaliser and although Tom Bender’s own-goal ultimately left them pointless, Allinson was delighted with how the system worked.

He said: “It was in my mind to get two strikers in the game as we left Nathan Pinney a bit isolated against Hampton on Tuesday.

“So I thought we’d go two up front and see how it worked and to be fair to Charlie Walker he’s taken his goal really well.

“And from there I felt there was only going to be one winner.

“Unfortunately we’ve been done by a quality cross in the second half.” City had a chance to get back on the winning trail last night against Hadley in the Herts Senior Cup.

Then it is back to league action on Saturday when Welling United visit Clarence Park.