St Albans City boss Ian Allinson described their victory at Maidenhead United as "massive" after taking a step closer to avoiding relegation.

The Saints claimed a vital 1-0 win at the National League South promotion challengers on Saturday which has moved them within one point of safety.

Allinson said: "It was never going to be easy coming here. They've been in good form the last couple of weeks and I think their home record is the best in the league.

"It was always going to be tough and we rode our luck especially I felt in the second half for ten minutes when we gave the ball away cheaply. They had a couple of half chances and Joe [Welch] kept us in it with two good saves.

"When I first came in I said we were going to struggle to win ugly and win 1-0 so that's why we've been attacking so much. Today we've won ugly but we'll take the three points. It's massive [for us]."

St Albans have won five of their last six games to boost their chances of staying up.

While the Saints remain in the relegation zone, Allinson's side have dragged a whole host of teams into trouble heading into the last few weeks of the season.

Allinson, whose side visit Hemel Hempstead Town tonight, said: "It's really tight and as I said when I first came in the one thing we had to do was try to drag every other club into it which is what we're doing at the moment.

"Right up to 15th or 16th should be looking over their shoulder because if they don't do it correctly they'll get dragged into a relegation battle.

"We know we've probably got to go and win two or three games of the last four. But the way it is above us we might have to go and win all four but we're going to approach every game exactly the same way."

The Saints came under pressure against Maidenhead United but produced arguably their best defensive performance of the season.

The visitors had a let-off when Tom Bender headed a free-kick past his own goalkeeper Welch but the offside flag saved the Saints.

Allinson said: "We have to take chances and ride our luck. I think it was an own goal in the end with Tom Bender heading it in. It's one of those where you have to just take the decisions when they come.

"We've had to ride our luck a little bit but last week, we could have easily got a draw against Maidstone so we have to take the rough with the smooth. We had a little bit of luck today but it's maybe the luck we haven't had for most of this season."

But City grabbed a priceless winner in the 83rd minute when Michael Thalassitis fired a low shot into the net.

The Saints host fourth-from-bottom Havant & Waterlooville in another pivotal league game on Saturday.