James Gray believes St Albans City’s latest attacking signings will add pace and more match winners to the side during the rest of the season.

The Saints have brought in striker Michael Malcolm and forward Jamal Lowe and the pair made a positive impact during Saturday’s 2-0 home win over Concord Rangers.

Former Wealdstone player Malcolm marked his debut by opening the scoring at the weekend while Lowe, who scored five times in ten appearances for the club last season, produced a promising display after signing from Barnet.

Joint St Albans City boss Gray said: “We have had a little a bit of an inquest this week and earlier on in the season we were conceding some sloppy goals so we had to revert to a 4-5-1 formation and get the defensive side of things right.

“Now in the last three or four games we’ve looked at the next step. We’re not too bad defensively and we have a bit of energy in midfield so we wanted to freshen it up top by adding pace to support John Frendo.

“Michael and Jamal did that superbly for us and the good thing is they're not loan players. They’ve signed permanently and they’re two new additions where we don’t have to think we’re going to lose them in a few weeks.

“We have had to work hard to get these players in. It’s been non-stop but we’ve managed to get them in and you could see they’ve strengthened us, enhanced what we’ve got and the squad is looking completely different to where we were two or three weeks ago.”

Gray added: “There’s a bit of versatility there as well. We can change it around and play with the two up top.

“We just went bold against Concord because they’re a tough side to break down and defensively if you can get at them you can get some fruit. We just went gung ho with three of the boys up top which gave us a real good threat. We said they could be our matchwinners and it’s worked out perfectly for us.”

Immanuel Soetan also joined the Conference South club and the winger came off the bench for the last 20 minutes at Clarence Park.

Gray said: “He’s just come back from Australia. He’s had a bit of a nomadic career already even though he’s only 22. Last season we saw him play against us for Bashley so he’s been around a little bit.

“He’s moved around a lot and he’s just come to Harpenden and got in touch with us. We got him down for a training session on Thursday and he did alright.

“He’s obviously nowhere near match fit but hopefully we can get him match sharp and he will be an asset for us.”

Dagenham & Redbridge defender Ian Gayle has extended his loan until February 14 but striker Cameron Lancaster has decided to spend time in America while Elliot Bailey has joined Dunstable Town on dual registration.

The Saints boss insists he is under no pressure to trim the squad and wants to ensure a strong finish to the campaign to help them next season.

He said: “Obviously financially we can’t have a squad of 22 players and you’re not going to want players sitting on the bench week in week out. But we’re under no pressure to move people out. We’re going to keep a strong squad for a good run-in.

“We’ve got 13 games left and want to finish as high as we possibly can which will enable us to speak to players for next season. The higher you finish the easier the conversation you have with players is. You might not see any players move out except for a month on loan.”

There is a team and supporters’ coach going to Maidenhead United for the Conference South game this Saturday.

The coach will depart at 11am from the Clarence Park entrance to the ground. To reserve £10 seats, call Ian Rogers on 07714 145862.