It was casual. It was celebrated in a nonchalant manner. And the goal that Louie Theophanous struck to complete a stunning 3-1 National League South victory for St Albans City over Eastbourne Borough at Clarence Park on Easter Saturday also just happened to be one of the most spectacular to have graced the old Victorian ground.

Theophanous’ 18th goal of the season and fourth in as many games was simply breathtaking – City manager Ian Allinson said that he once scored a similar effort against David Seaman and then admitted that he did not know whether he meant it as a cross or a shot.

There was no such confusion surrounding Theophanous’ wonderful strike; he meant it and Boro ’keeper Lewis Carey stood rooted, dumbstruck, to the spot as the ball flew past him en-route to the York Road goal.

Theophanous’ goal was very much the icing on the cake, as City again demonstrated the belief and fighting spirit that Allinson has instilled in the team as, for the third time in four games, they overturned an early deficit to secure three valuable points.

City were unchanged from the win gained at Concord Rangers the previous weekend, which meant no better than a place on the bench for skipper Sam Corcoran, as he returned from a two-match suspension.

Corcoran was, however, sent into action on the hour and his quality shone in the driving wind and rain as City pressed for victory.

St Albans remarkable recent upturn saw them enter the game in confident mood but they faced an Eastbourne side beaten just twice in 11 games, the Sports also defeated City earlier in the season at Priory Lane.

Tommy Widdrington’s side will have fancied their chances of completing their second league double over the Saints when taking a third minute lead.

Boro broke up a City attack with Craig Stone knocking the ball away from Michael Thalassitis and into the City half to Nathaniel Pinney.

The muscular forward chipped a good ball towards the edge of the home penalty area where Jamie Taylor got the better of Tom Bender and guided a rising shot to the right of City goalkeeper Joe Welch.

The ‘keeper did well to push the ball away but could nothing to stop Gavin McCallum from calmly heading the ball into the net.

Taylor’s shot was to be his last contribution to the game due to Oshodi landing on the striker’s right ankle when attempting to block the ball. Elliott Romain, the scorer of the only goal when the sides met in East Sussex, was called into action to replace Taylor, After that sluggish start City quickly improved but Eastbourne remained lively going forward and more goals were very much on the agenda.

City’s work-rate soon slipped into top gear and the visitors found Allinson’s charges snapping at them whenever they wanted time to play.

After a relatively comfortable opening 15 minutes Eastbourne suddenly found themselves under intense and sustained pressure.

Theophanous and the ageless Charlie MacDonald linked well and played with confidence and panache, an equaliser did not appear to be far away.

Good interplay between the two City strikers ended with Theophanous having a shot deflected out for a corner.

The set piece was clipped towards the near post by Lee Chappell – who has surely never worked harder in a City shirt – and headed towards the back post by Thalassitis, where Boro left-back Sam Beale cleared the ball from the goalline.

Eastbourne midfielder Ryan Worrall picked up the first booking of the day, but he was somewhat unfortunate in that it was the first foul committed by the away side and it is doubtful that his contact with MacDonald was anything more than minimal.

MacDonald’s contribution was far more significant two minutes later, the 22nd, as he put the sides back on level terms with the Saints 6,000th goal in 3,337 league games.

Chappell’s corner on the City right was headed out towards the opposite touchline where Oshodi regained possession and turned Callum Buckley inside out before sending a cross deep into the penalty area.

This time Beale headed back across the box but straight to Theophanous who, after controlling the ball on his chest, sent in a volley that bounced in front of Carey.

The keeper managed to palm the ball away from goal but the predatory MacDonald rushed in to steer the rebound home.

The pressure continued to mount and only quick thinking by the experienced Eastbourne captain Ian Simpemba stopped Theophanous from latching onto Harry Anderson’s lobbed ball into the penalty area.

Chappell whipped another excellent corner to the edge of the six-yard box where Oshodi and Thalassitis challenged and the ball flew off one of them, seemingly towards the back of the net, only for Beale to pull off another goalline clearance, this time with the aid of the underside of the crossbar.

Eastbourne were reeling but held firm at the back as Anderson had a shot blocked and Carey dived to beat out a well-struck effort from Thalassitis.

Boro remained a threat on the counter-attack and won a corner when Welch turned around the post a low shot by Kane Haysman.

Romain leapt high to reach Worrall’s corner-kick but Welch went higher still to claw the ball from just under the crossbar to his right.

City may have gone into the half time break frustrated not to be ahead, but playing up the slope in the second half they had a strong wind to their backs and were attacking a goal into which they have scored almost twice as many times as they have in the bottom goal this season.

That statistic was almost improved upon three minutes after the restart when Thalassitis met an Anderson corner but failed to make a clean contact and the ball grazed an upright on its way out of play.

Eastbourne’s best chance for some while to regain the lead saw McCallum’s low cross deflected out to Haysman whose shot was blocked by Scott Thomas. The rebound spun towards the back post where Romain, under pressure from Oshodi and Ugo Udoji, blasted the ball out of the ground.

Midway through the half St Albans belatedly took the lead with a goal that combined flowing football with route-one efficiency.

Thalassitis began a five-man move from deep in the City half and the move ended with an excellent cross by Bender being hoofed out for a throw by Buckley.

As a train hurtled behind him on the Bed-Pan line Chappell sent one of a dozen long throws into the heart of the Boro penalty area, and this time Oshodi overcame Simpemba’s mistimed leap to glance a header to Carey’s left for his fourth goal of the season.

With that goal St Albans appeared to have finally knocked the stuffing out of Eastbourne and the increasing vocal support on the York Road terrace demanded a decisive third goal.

Anderson almost provided it with a snap shot that zipped just wide and on 76 minutes the contest was ended by a goal of sheer brilliance.

Stone headed away a Chappell throw from the City right but the ball was collected by Corcoran some 35 yards from goal.

Corcoran slid a gentle pass out to the left for Theophanous to collect.

Jake Sheppard attempted to usher the City striker towards the goalline, instead Theophanous cut inside and from a yard inside the penalty area – 12 yards from the goalline – he arrowed the perfect shot towards the far top corner of the net.

Unforgettable.

City’s fifth win in six games lifts them back above Weston-super-Mare, who chalked up a surprise win over leaders Ebbsfleet on Good Friday, to 20th place.

But St Albans are now level on points with the side one place above the relegation zone, Bath City, and have an opportunity to climb out of the bottom three on Easter Monday with a local derby at Hemel Hempstead Town.

Despite losing to title challenges Maidstone United on Saturday, Hemel are just two points away from a play-off place and have not lost to St Albans in the past seven league encounters.

Kick off at Vauxhall Road is at 1pm.

A collection was taken at Clarence Park on Saturday as part of Jeff Stelling’s Men United March in aid of Prostate Cancer UK. In excess of £400 was donated by supporters.

Stelling will be at Clarence Park at around lunchtime on Tuesday on Day 9 of his target of walking ten marathons in ten days.

St Albans City: J.Welch, E.Oshodi, T.Bender, Sc Thomas (S.Corcoran 59), E.Udoji, B.Martin H.Anderson, M.Thalassitis (B.Gibson 84), L.Theophanous, C.MacDonald, L.Chappell, subs not used: D.Locke, A.Iwediuno, L.Allinson.

Booked: Thomas, Bender.

Eastbourne Borough: L.Carey, J.Sheppard, S.Beale, C.Stone, I.Simpemba, C.Buckley, G.McCallum, R.Worrall (D.Lok 78), N.Pinney, J.Taylor (E.Romain 5), K.Haysman (M.Worthington 59), subs not used: B.Bosma, K.Khinda-John.

Booked: Worrall.

Goals: 3 0-1 McCallum, 22 1-1 MacDonald, 68 2-1 Oshodi, 76 3-1 Theophanous.

Referee: Elliott Kaye (Hainault).

Att: 663.