Having struggled for goals during their first six friendly matches of the summer, St Albans City discovered their scoring boots at Sewardstone Road on Saturday when Lewis Hilliard and Connor Calcutt bagged a brace each during a 6-2 romp against Waltham Abbey.

City were certainly most worthy winners and got full reward for taking the game to their Isthmian League Division One North hosts from the start.

But overall it was not the most memorable 90 minutes of one’s life and there seemed an air of the Saints ridiculously lengthy list of pre-season matches taking its toll on the players both physically and mentally.

Joint-City manager James Gray was certainly not allowing himself to get carried away when he spoke at the end of the game.

“The less said about today’s performance the better. I thought we looked scrappy and I wasn’t pleased with a lot of things I saw out there. The pitch looks good but it is quite hard to move the ball around and there was no tempo to the game.”

“Some of our boys are looking slightly lethargic due to the amount of training that we’ve put in recently, but, 6-2 winners. We got a few bits out of it and I’ve learned quite a lot again today and there’s quite a lot I wasn’t happy with. Disappointed with a 6-2 win, one of those things.’ City took a second look at former Stevenage striker Callum Calcutt, as he continues to regain full fitness after suffering a broken leg last November. The 21-year-old reported no adverse reaction to his injury after the game.

Calcutt was joined in attack by Michael Malcolm for an hour with Simon Thomas seeing out the remainder of the game.

Former St Neots Town winger Hilliard scored both of his goals when coming in from the left flank and looked more comfortable the longer the game went on.

Jack Green was given an hour on the opposite flank but generally had a fairly quiet afternoon.

In contrast, older brother Danny was heavily involved throughout in the middle of the park and seemed to be on the receiving end of just about every buffeting going.

The Waltham Abbey attack was pretty much well contained throughout and a propensity to wander offside countless times during the first half made life even more comfortable for a City backline consisting of full-backs John Kyriacou and skipper Lee Chappell, and the central pairing of James Comley and Darren Locke.

Sam Corcoran took centre stage as the creative midfielder but his contribution lasted just 26 minutes before being called to the bench.

Gray said that Corcoran was struggling with blisters on his feet but there was a suspicion that that the midfielder was whisked off following a verbal exchange with the bench.

City’s positive start saw Chappell blaze a shot high and wide – this is not thought to have been the shot that saw the ball smash the windscreen of the vehicle belonging to the St Albans Review match reporter. A wild shot by one of the Abbey players in the warm up is believed to have caused that damage.

St Albans had to wait until the 34th minute before scoring the opening goal and it was a case of persistence paying off for the strikingly blonde-haired Hilliard.

Having had one low angled drive pushed around the post by keeper James May, Hilliard, having been fed by Danny Green, came out on top with his second such effort that rolled inside the keeper’s left hand upright.

But City were caught napping a minute later when a long free kick from the Abbey left found Matty Attard completely unattended to loop a header over the advancing and stranded Joe Welch.

The goal rush continued on 37 minutes when a ball down the City right sent Malcolm clear and with a clinical first touch the former Stockport County player sent the ball through the keeper’s leg and low into the net.

St Albans bolstered their position in the first minute of added time with a third goal. Steve Wales, on the City right, found Hilliard wide of the back post.

Hilliard played the ball to Malcolm at the near post, when his first attempt was blocked by the keeper the striker quickly clipped it towards the opposite post for Calcutt to head in from close range.

The home side, who made numerous changes during the interval, began the second half encouragingly when forcing Welch into making a good save.

Welch had an intriguing afternoon with his handling being excellent while his kicking kept spectators on their toes for fear of being struck by the ball.

Abbey threatened, briefly, to save the game when Darelle Russell latched onto a fine ball through the middle of the City defence on 61 minutes and advanced before firing to Welch’s right and into the corner of the net.

Two minutes later City made four changes with Martin replacing Locke in the heart of the defence, Howard Hall stepping in for Kyriacou at right back, Rod Young filling Jack Green’s boots and Thomas partnering Calcutt in attack.

St Albans restored their two-goal advantage on 68 minutes when Calcutt was blocked out on the left with the ball rolling to Hilliard.

Having scored with his right-foot earlier, this time he sent a pinpoint left-footer along the ground, across and beyond the fingertips of the sprawling substitute keeper.

The fifth goal, on 72 minutes, was also the result of a positive run receiving a kind deflection as Young lost the ball and it rebounded kindly for Calcutt to arrow home his second of the day from around 12 yards.

Three minutes later a flying save denied Hilliard his hat-trick but City did add a sixth in the 90th minute when Chappell cantered down the left and slipped a low pass inside to Young who stroked the ball into the vacant goal.

St Albans City: J.Welch, J.Kyriacou (H.Hall 63), L.Chappell, S.Corcoran (S.Wales 26), J.Comley, D.Locke (B.Martin 63),J.Green (R.Young 63), D.Green, C.Calcutt, M.Malcolm (S.Thomas 63), L.Hilliard.