St Albans manager Allinson encouraged by defensive work of team against Orient

Ian Allinson was happy with the way St Albans City performed against Leyton Orient on Tuesday evening at Clarence Park.

The O’s took an early lead through Josh Koroma, but the National League South side fought back impressively.

Sam Merson levelled things up with a first-half penalty and although Orient created a number of other chances, the Saints defended well to claim an encouraging 1-1 draw.

“I was really pleased with us. We’ve had to defend some big corners and I thought James Russell in goal gave us a bit more confidence,” said Allinson.

“We got a bit tired late on and being full-time they were a bit fitter and with a lot of ex-Football League professionals they kept the ball better than us.

“But I’m really pleased. I thought we defended well and we posed problems as well. I gave most of them 70 minutes and I was pleased with the minutes I got from them.”

While O’s squandered several good opportunities, they were also tested at the other end of the pitch by a team which finished eighth in the National League South last season.

Merson netted for St Albans, but David Moyo also showed his class and so did recent recruit and substitute Ralston Gabriel –formerly of Haringey Borough.

Allinson was encouraged by their displays, but revealed his frustration at the goal his side conceded to Orient in the 15th minute via Koroma.

He added: “The three of them (Merson, Moyo and Gabriel) will be a handful for any team, as long as we get the service to them.

“We refuse at times to play to their strength and it gets a little bit frustrating from my side and I’m sure from their side as well because we do tend to play the ball sideways.

“And we were undone again by a cross-field pass that has been cut out and they’ve scored from it. It’s stupid.

“We speak about it at length about where we want to play, where we want to put the ball, but we still tend to over play in certain areas at certain times.”