Saints equipped to handle best sides in the league (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

St Albans City boss believes side can hold their own against the best

11:00am Wednesday 11th January 2012 in Local Sport By Simon Mail

St Albans City boss David Howell believes his side are now equipped to handle the best sides in the league following their 2-1 win over Leamington.

The Saints have won four of their last six games to climb up to tenth in the Southern Premier Division and are now only ten points off top spot despite having an indifferent start to the season.

St Albans City fielded an unchanged side at Clarence Park following their win over Hemel Hempstead Town and Howell feels his team are finally capable of matching up against the league’s top clubs.

The former Harrow Borough manager said: “A lot of these sides won’t go away. They will be there for 90 minutes. That’s why Leamington are third in the league, they were still there in the 90th minute.

“You don’t kill off these sides and beat them by four or five unless they’ve had a man sent off or you are like we were at the start of the season where we were a little bit hot and cold.

“Sides like Leamington will be there for 90 minutes. We’ve got that in our game now so now that we can match that we’re looking to show what else we can do on top of that.

“We’re looking to beat any of the teams we play. I just think due to the standard of the league I don’t think you’ll see any side run away with it.

“As soon as a side gets in front they get reined back in. They’re all tough games but now we’ve got a side to deal with this. That was the problem that we had before, we weren’t able to deal with the tough games for 90 minutes.

“We were competing for an hour and then lost our way. Now there is a little bit of confidence so even that goal that we gave away at the end was a shock whereas supporters expected it before.

“You don’t get that feeling now so that’s the difference between having a side with confidence and the right kind of mixture of youngsters and experience.

“For me now I’m just looking towards the game against Redditch to try and get some points there if we can. It just keeps us in touch with what’s happening in the top half of the table.

“As long as we’re on this run confidence is high. I could tell the fans were happy. But just as easily we had the game closed down at 2-0 and they got back in the game. But it was important to get the three points.”

In-form striker Sakho Bakare netted a brace in the win and Howell thinks the Frenchman is now proving an asset after being a liability earlier in the campaign.

Howell said: “I think it was a justified win. I felt we played well in the first half and it was a bit difficult in the second half when we never really got ourselves going. We still looked dangerous on the counter-attack and could possibly get something out of nothing which we did with Sakho.

“He’s come in, waited and bided his time. He’s the type of player that sometimes frustrates the rest of the team.

“When we weren’t playing well it was harmful for the team but now it seems to be working because he’s scored two goals where he’s really created them himself out of nothing.”

In other news, there is a St Albans City FC team and supporters coach going to Redditch for the away game this Saturday. The coach will depart at 10.45am from the Clarence Park entrance to the ground. To book a seat call Ian Rogers on 07714 145862 or Barry Hilliard on 07831 859041. The cost is £19 for adults and £11 for juniors.

The club will be putting on a fans forum in the Saints Bar on Thursday, January 19 at 7.30pm. Chairman Ian Ridley and Howell will take questions from supporters on the night.