St Albans City manager David Howell admits he understands the supporters’ growing frustrations after his side were dumped out of the FA Trophy by lower league side Ashford Town [Middlesex].

The Saints took the lead through Ryan Moran’s early goal but the Southern League Central outfit Ashford turned the match around to complete a deserved 3-1 win at Clarence Park.

It was the fourth time this season that St Albans have lost a match having been in front and capped a second dismal showing following their FA Cup exit at the hands of East Thurrock United earlier this month.

Howell said: “At the moment it’s very disappointing and I can understand supporters leaving the ground and being disappointed.

“They’ve got to be disappointed because one, we’ve lost, two the way we’ve lost and three the competition we’ve gone out in. Those are hard things to take.

“You’ve always got to be aware there could be an obstacle or banana skin around the corner. I wouldn’t say I’m surprised but I’m disappointed.

“At half time the writing was on the wall to be perfectly honest unless we raised our game and stepped it up. If we wanted to get something out of the game we needed to come out of the traps better but we didn’t.

“The two cup matches we haven’t done ourselves any favours with our performances. The defeat against East Thurrock was probably our worst performance and worst feeling for me since I’ve been at the club.

“But this is not far behind because since then we’ve had a couple of draws and a win and the lads were starting to get a bit more confidence and belief. We took a couple steps forward but then we’ve just taken another one back.”

Howell added: “The problem with us at the moment is we have two extremes. We either look to do well and don’t kick on or we turn from doing well to performing poorly and making bad decisions.

“Then it’s a struggle to get out of that mode and back into the one we were in earlier. I felt that was the case again here when we must have had about ten corners in the first 20 minutes. We were camped in their half and I don’t think Nick Jupp even touched the ball in that period.

“It was a role reversal at the start of the second half with them camped in our half. We never cleared our lines properly and didn’t work hard enough to win the ball back and every 50 50 challenge they seemed to come out with the ball.”

Former Harrow Borough boss Howell always expected to face some tough hurdles after taking over at Clarence Park in the summer.

He knows he has to lift his side but believes the players need to gain confidence, which has been eroded by their two cup setbacks, if they are to get some consistent form in the league.

Howell said: “I’ve come here to do a job and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. If it was easy and we were doing really well then I would be worried because it doesn’t work like that.

“What I’ve got to try and do now is get the team together and make sure we continue with the run we’ve had in the league because I know that gives them the belief as a side to go on and perform consistently.

“We’ve had two major setbacks in the cup and that drains the confidence of the players and frustrates the supporters because they’ve come down and they’ve seen some entertaining games at the start of the season and I want us to get back to being consistent. For us to get there, the players have got to start to believe in themselves.”

There is a St Albans City team and supporters coach going to Bashley for the away game on Saturday. The coach will depart at 10.30am from the Clarence Park entrance to the ground. Since the coach has a limited number of seats available, anyone going should book seats as early as possible.

To book a seat call Ian Rogers on 07714145862 or Barry Hilliard on 07831 859041. The cost is £19 for adults and £12 for juniors.