Louie Theophanous announced his return to goalscoring form with an outstanding brace as St Albans City soared into the top three of National League South with a comfortable 3-1 win over Whitehawk at Clarence Park on Saturday.

Theophanous, last season’s top scorer and the current City Player of the Year, has found goals hard to come by during the early weeks of the season but his two superb strikes against a Whitehawk side packed with overseas players – mostly Brazilian – served as a timely reminder that the Saints record signing is back on the goal trail.

Also on target for Ian Allinson’s high-flying Saints was the popular Sam Merson, who opened his account with a fine effort that finally killed off any thoughts of the Hawks staving off defeat.

Merson’s goal, drilled in from 18 yards, was reward for a succession of impressive displays when coming off the bench and came at the opposite end of the pitch to that in which his father, the England international Paul Merson, scored for Arsenal in a friendly in July 1996.

City were good value for their third consecutive win, and the run of successive home league wins now stretches to five games, the Saints best run for 11 years.

Given the international flavour of Pablo Asensio’s team it was no surprise to see them adopt a passing game. But the slow pace at which they played was ultimately their undoing.

The idea of building patiently and then slicing City open with a deadly through ball seldom came to fulfilment due to the final pass being often wayward or lacking in the necessary power to breakdown an impressive City back four.

Time again City made perfectly timed interceptions with the midfield providing extra security for the backline.

When the Hawks upped their tempo early in the second half they looked a far better proposition but, overall, it was St Albans who made greater capital of better quality through balls.

But the home side were slow to get going and Whitehawk, thrashed 6-0 at the Park in February, had a couple of chances to impose themselves on the game but missed out when Danny Mills twisted swiftly only to completely miss the ball, and also when Mike West sent a tame effort harmlessly wide.

As City came into the game Josh Hill headed wide from a Ben Herd free kick and the central defender then chipped the ball into the goalmouth following a Lee Chappell free kick only for Ryan Johnson’s header to be saved by the diving Adri Munoz.

Mills forced James Russell into making a good save diving to his right but the striker was somewhat harshly penalised for pushing.

The prospect of a goal arriving anytime soon appeared remote but, out of the blue, Theophanous brought a strangely subdued home crowd to its feet with stunning opening goal on 26 minutes.

The outstanding Johnson intercepted a pass by Javier Favarel and fed the excellent Scott Thomas who sent a perfect pass over the Hawks midfield to Theophanous out on the City left.

Coming inside Ramon Aldavert and Rodrigo Mann, Theophanous drove a powerful right-footed shot just inside the right-hand upright of the diving Munoz for his first goal on home soil since April.

City almost added a second two minutes later when Johnson pushed a quick free-kick to Herd, back in the side at the expense of George Casey after serving a one-match ban, who in turn sent Dipo Akinyemi away down the right.

The on-loan Stevenage striker’s cross found Shaun Lucien beyond the back post and the former Wealdstone winger looked set to open his account before Munoz diverted it out for a corner.

The excellent Munoz then pulled off an exceptional save high to his right to keep out a wickedly dipping Junior Morias free-kick from just over 30 yards out.

Six minutes from the break and Munoz came the rescue of his side once more when stretching high to parry a rising shot from 23 yards by Theophanous who had been sent through the middle by Tom Bender’s perfect through ball.

Whitehawk launched a swift counter-attack with Favarel sending substitute Matheus Soares Da Silva away only for his low shot to be blocked by the sprawling Russell and hacked away by Hill.

The second half looked set to repeat the first with the Hawks lacking penetration while City kept Munoz busy and increased their lead on 49 minutes.

City broke at speed following a Whitehawk corner on the Saints left with Chappell finding Morias down the Saints flank.

Morias was practically rugby-tackled by Luiz Filipe Infante-Idalgo but, in spite of losing a boot, stayed on his feet and laid a square pass inside for the completely unmarked Theophanous to fire past the advancing ‘keeper from 18 yards.

Infante was pulled up for his failed attempt to halt Morias and was duly booked.

At two-down there looked to be no way back for the Hawks but in an instance they changed their game, formation and outlook by, finally, taking the game to their hosts.

A neat exchange down the right between Wilfred Tagbo and Infante sent the latter away only for his low shot to be pushed towards the back post by Russell, and before Mills could turn the ball in Hill made a remarkable intervention to stab the ball out for a corner.

The game was now opening up into an entertaining affair and Hill played another crucial part as he retrieved possession after a miskick by Russell.

The former Boreham Wood played chipped a pass out to Theophanous on the left, after drifting inside he in turn laid a square ball to Thomas.

Spotting Morias unmarked on the edge of the penalty area, Thomas slipped a good ball into the box.

Munoz made an excellent save to keep out Morias’s firm shot but, as Infante and West got in a tangle when trying to clear the loose ball, Theophanous stepped in only for his effort to be charged down by Munoz.

Chances continued to come at either end with Mills thwarted again by Russell – although an offside flag would have ruled out a goal in any case.

In City’s next attack Morias rode two challenges and crossed to the back post where Hill’s header was cleared only as far as Akinyemi whose shot drifted away from the goal at the last moment.

Having defended so well throughout, it was unfortunate that an error in the City defence contributed to Whitehawk finding a way back into the game on 76 minutes.

Chappell pinched the ball from Kleyton Agostini only for the ball to fall between Thomas and Hill.

Both players went to clear their lines but ended up pulling out and allowed the wonderful Argentinean midfielder Torres to burst through and, after sidestepping Johnson, shoot to Russell’s right to reduce the arrears.

After a foray down the right straight from the kick-off by Lucien came to nothing, Torres built another Whitehawk attack with an enticing ball over Bender for Tagbo to latch onto, but the Frenchman eased up as Russell charged out of his penalty area and cleared.

Allinson sought to steady the City ship with three substitutions inside the final 15 minutes and it could be argued that it worked as City saw the game out with a flurry of chances.

Munoz did well to claw away a Chappell free kick and the Spaniard then did even better to push away a well-placed effort from Theophanous following a pinpoint crossfield pass by Herd.

On 88 minutes a clash of heads between Tagbo and Bender led to a short delay in the action.

From the restart Torres sportingly gave the ball back to Russell, and then probably wished he had not.

From Russell’s long kick Merson did well to beat Aldavert in the air and then, after taking one touch, stretched to shoot across Munoz to restore the Saints two-goal cushion.

Rhys Hoenes ought to have added his name to the list of City goalscorers following a scintillating counter-attack.

Lucien and Merson quickly worked the ball up to the former Royston Town player who cut inside Torres only to send his shot over the top as glory beckoned.

A day in which both goalkeepers won several plaudits it was Russell who had the final word when excelling to push Mills’ close range header onto the crossbar.

City have little time in which to recuperate from the win over Whitehawk, as a trip to Weston-super-Mare is in store for Ian Allinson’s side on Bank Holiday Monday.

Travel forecasts suggest it could be one of the busiest days on the roads this year and supporters are advised to depart for the game as early as possible.

Ben Martin is available for selection after spending ten-days in America, while Ryan Johnson will play his last game for a couple of weeks before joining the Northern Ireland U21 squad.

Kick off at Winterstoke Road at Weston is at 3pm.

St Albans City: J.Russell, B.Herd, T.Bender, L.Chappell, J.Hill, R.Johnson, S.Lucien, Sc.Thomas, L.Theophanous (I.Rees 84), J.Morias (R.Hoenes 89), D.Akinyemi (S.Merson 75), subs not used: M.Ball, A.Iwediuno.

Whitehawk: A.Munoz, R.Mann (W.Tagbo 39), G.Miloski-Lucas, J.Favarel, R.Aldavert, C.M’Boungou, M.West, S.Torres, D.Mills, A.Abdulla (K.Agostini 59), L.Infante-Idalgo (M.Da Silva 71), unused subs: A.Llenga, L.Santos-Rodrigues.

Booked: Favarel, Infante.

Goals: 26 1-0 Theophanous, 49 2-0 Theophanous, 76 2-1 Torres, 88 3-1 Merson.

Referee: Christopher Pollard (Stowmarket).

Att: 503.