St Albans City caretaker boss Harry Wheeler believes this weekend’s game at home to Weston-super-Mare is a cup final for them and insists their reaction will tell him whether his players are up to the task of avoiding relegation.

The Saints suffered a demoralising 5-0 thrashing at National League South promotion contenders Sutton United on Saturday, which left them third bottom in the table.

It was the lowest point of Wheeler’s time in charge and he has called on his team to react strongly to the disappointment with a win at Clarence Park on Saturday.

Wheeler said: “It is massive for us. The next game is a cup final for me and we need to win it to stay among the pack fighting to avoid relegation.

“If we put our minds to it then I would still expect us to get a win. This game will tell me if the players here are fighting for the club or if they just hide away when it gets tough.

“We will find out a lot more after a heavy defeat and I will certainly learn from it.”

The caretaker manager continued: “This will be a test for us and will tell me whether the players have got the hunger and character to get us out of trouble.”

The Saints were second best throughout Saturday’s defeat to Sutton and Wheeler admitted the players felt embarrassed with their performance.

He said: “The players felt they let the management and the supporters down. They all know that wasn’t good enough and it was just a bad day.

“No one was really at it and I don’t know why that was but hopefully it was just a one-off.”

City got off to a miserable start as they conceded the opening goal after just six minutes when Dan Fitchett fired past goalkeeper Joe Welch.

The visitors almost levelled immediately but Harry Crawford fired his strike against the upright.

The Saints fell further behind after 19 minutes when Ross Stearn volleyed home from 12 yards out to put Sutton in control.

Any hopes of a comeback from City were well and truly quashed with the hosts’ third goal shortly before the break.

Craig Dundas threaded the ball through to Fitchett and he kept his composure to fire through the legs of Welch.

It got even worse for the Saints shortly after the second half got underway as they conceded a fourth goal.

The ball fell kindly for Fitchett and he hit a powerful shot into the net to complete his hat-trick.

Stuart Fleetwood volleyed home for United but the goal was chalked off for offside.

However, it was only brief respite as the rampant hosts rounded off the scoring through Tommy Wright’s 79th-minute strike.

St Albans are involved in the Herts Senior Cup third round tonight when they host Hadley.

The Saints will have defender Eddie Oshodi back after his return from a short break teaching in India and his availability is a timely boost.

Wheeler said: “He will be very important for us. He has that desire and a very good character. He’s here to do a job but adds pace to the backline and provides a bit more assertiveness to the defence.”