St Albans City manager Ian Allinson commended the “discipline” of his players as they thumped Havant and Waterlooville 6-0 on Saturday in a game they had to win to keep their heads above water in the National League South.

Goals from Ben Martin, Louie Theophanous, Michael Thalassitis (2), Charlie MacDonald and Sam Corcoran sealed a resounding victory to put the team two points clear of danger with just two games to play.

“I think it’s difficult in terms of the calibre of the game, the importance of the game, but I felt we started really bright,” Allinson said.

“I felt we were on the front foot and took the game to them, and after the third goal we took our foot off the pedal a little bit and we gave them two or three chances. I still felt at half-time that if they could get a goal it opens the game back up.”

With goal difference possibly coming into play to determine City’s fate, Allison stressed the importance of the team’s ruthless nature in putting six past the Hawks, which improved their record to minus 11.

He said: “I said to the players at half-time that we’ve got to try and get as many as we can, so I think that could be worth a point by the time the end of the season comes.”

After conceding an agonising late leveller in midweek against Hemel Hempstead, there was an added impetus to get the win against the Hawks, and Allinson is now targeting 49 points to secure safety.

He said: “The one thing we’ve got to do is remain unbeaten now for the last two games and hopefully one of those will be a win. I think 49 points will definitely be enough, but 48 or 47 might be enough.”

The 58-year-old conceded his surprise in the club’s turnaround since he took charge almost ten weeks ago, although he knew the players were capable when gauging their ability.

Allinson explained: “I felt we were a team that was on the floor, but the thing that stuck out was how good the players were and it was really just trying to get the confidence.

“The players have to take all the credit for their performances because they’ve gone out and performed.

“They’ve worked extremely hard and they’ve been disciplined in their performances.”

St Albans go into their penultimate game against Wealdstone knowing the importance of picking up a result.

He said: “It’s not a nice feeling going into a game where you know if you lose you’re on that stage.

“I want to make sure that if we can get a result next week, with Hayes playing Bath, and some of the other games going on, we might be feeling quite comfortable going into the last game against Dartford.”