Steve Castle hopes a flu blug in the St Albans City squad will clear up before tonight's trip to Lewes.

The Saints travel to the Dripping Pan this evening with doubts over the availability of Gary Cohen, Justin Clayton and Daniel Chillingworth. Ryan Maxwell has also been suffering from flu but his goalscoring appearance for the Reserves on Monday indicates he should be fit.

Castle said: "There are a few sniffles about but hopefully they will have cleared up by tonight.

"It's hard to tell at the moment because a few of the guys have been under the weather but I'm hoping they will be OK for the match."

Lewes, who are second bottom, earned a 1-1 draw against the Saints at Clarence Park back in August but Castle was unimpressed by them.

The opposition had to wait until Saturday for their first league win of the season and the manager claims this breakthrough could revive their fortunes.

"Lewes just turned over Bishop's Stortford so they might be turning their season around," Castle said. "They weren't a team that overly impressed me early in the season but the result they got against Bishop's Stortford is good enough for me and we will respect them.

"The standard of teams can change very quickly and they might have been able to bring new lads in and bolster their squad. We will give them all the respect they deserve.

"It was a frustrating game when we played them and we were going through the stage where we were creating chances and not finishing teams off. We got caught by a sucker punch at the end which has mirrored our season to be perfectly honest."

City's last match was a narrow home defeat to league leaders Newport County but Castle took encouragement from the display.

After visiting Lewes the Saints return home to face rock bottom Weymouth on Saturday and have recent memories of success over them after a 2-0 victory last month.

The manager added: "If we can keep our performance level as high as it has been we have to believe that the goals will come. They will be at the bottom but they are fighting for their lives.

"It changes so frequently at this level but we will treat them with respect and hopefully manage to get our noses in front early on.

"We put in a good performance against Newport County and we just have to keep putting in those performance levels and if they are as high as that then hopefully the results will follow."

The Saints' youngsters earned their place in the first round of the FA Youth Cup after a 5-2 extra-time win at Aveley last week.

City will host Colchester United on Tuesday night and the performances of the talented teenagers could provide Castle with more options for his first team over the rest of the season.

He said: "They have done fantastically well but it's a great big leap from playing college football to playing in the Conference South.

"Players like Ross Dedman, Jonathan O'Donnell and James Macey have all impressed and not done themselves any harm at all. Who knows who will be watching them in the next round and it could open a few doors for them.

"They are a little bit untried but they have had the benefit of playing in a team I've managed.

"If they keep it up then they will definitely be pushing themselves towards the first team. They're not a million miles away."