James Gray insists St Albans City’s successive away wins proves they can handle life in the Conference South.

The Saints responded to their opening defeat by winning 3-2 at Staines Town, having been 2-0 down, before following this up with a 1-0 victory at Farnborough on Saturday.

City have now won five consecutive away matches which is their best run for 12 years and the joint manager believes his side are starting to settle in the new division.

Gray said: “We needed to up our game so to get two away victories is very welcome. It’s been a good week for us.

“We have done well to win at a couple of the league’s established clubs and it gives us confidence that we’ve managed to do this already.

“It’s been a long pre-season and the fruits of this have been shown by these two away wins.”

James Comley’s goal was enough to fire the Saints to the points at Farnborough and the manager was impressed with their defensive solidity.

Gray said: “We were very good in the first half but they came back into it in the second half.

“Farnborough put us under pressure but defensively we were strong and Joe Welch made a couple of good saves.”

The Saints will attempt to get off the mark at Clarence Park this weekend when they entertain Bishop’s Stortford before travelling to early leaders Eastbourne Borough on Monday.

Gray said: “We need to put on a performance at home on Saturday because we didn’t really show up in our first match.

“But perhaps that was down to nerves and we’ve since picked up a few wins.

“We just hope that we can express ourselves and show our expansive game to the fans.”

There is a team and supporters’ coach going to Eastbourne for the Vanarama Conference South game on Bank Holiday Monday.

The coach will depart at 9.15am from the Clarence Park entrance to the ground.

To reserve £15 seats, call Ian Rogers on 07714 145862 or alternatively, you can book them at this week’s game against Bishop’s Stortford.