Wins in any form "breed confidence" and St Albans City manager Ian Allinson was happy to come away from Welling United with all three points.

Alex Lankshear, with his first for the club, Romeo Akinola and Joy Mukena got the goals that handed City a 3-2 win at Park View Road on a pitch that wasn't perfect but still playable despite the persistent rain throughout the morning and the 90 minutes.

Herts Advertiser: St Albans City congratulate Alex Lankshear (second from left) after his first goal for the club.St Albans City congratulate Alex Lankshear (second from left) after his first goal for the club. (Image: Jim Standen)

Allinson even admitted the success was done the hard way but after one win in five National League South games, he was also more than conscious of the need to get their promotion tilt back on track.

He said: "You’re going to make mistakes on a pitch that has ended up in the way it has but with the amount of rain we’ve had, I’m just pleased the game was on and we managed to finish it.

"The pitch played perfectly well considering the rain but we had to get a little bit of confidence back.

"It will come, winning breeds confidence, and this will make a massive difference to training this week and the FA Trophy game on Saturday.

"We haven’t played as well as we can but Welling are a vastly improved side from where they were when they played us at the start of the season, they caused us lots of problems.

"We got a great start, which is what we’ve been looking for, but within minutes we were back to 1-1 and to be fair they then had most of the chances.

"They’ve taken the game to us and we have had to defend in numbers.

"The most important thing is we got three points and sometimes you have to win ugly to do that.

"We did that but we’ve still got loads to work on and we have to take that forward into training [this week]."

The Saints boss had hinted at new signings after the home defeat to neighbours Hemel Hempstead Town and there was one on display in south London, on-loan right back Avan Jones from Luton Town.

Rumours still swirl about former Wealdstone and Boreham Wood midfielder Sam Cox but Allinson says any further moves will have to be done on a deal-by-deal basis.

He said: "We have to be careful as the squad is big already and Liam Sole missed out [at Welling].

"If the right player becomes available in the right area, then we’ll make a move.

"Tom Bender is still struggling from COVID and Michael Clark is still a couple of weeks away probably but when we get those back, we'll have a squad of 18 or 19."