St Albans City became champions in a second county trophy - but manager David Noble felt there were some question marks over the performance.

Saints had lifted the Herts Senior Cup and have now added the Herts Charity Cup to their collection, the final against Potters Bar Town delayed from last season.

The 2-1 win, played at their own Clarence Park home rather than a neutral venue, came the hard way.

Trailing to an Ore Bello penalty on the stroke of half-time, they needed a Ken Charles strike to drag them level on 77 minutes before a deflected Sam Meakes goal three minutes into stoppage time gave them the trophy.

Noble though is hoping a hard training session two days earlier was the cause of their leggy performance against the Isthmian League Premier Division side.

The City boss said: "It's a nice feeling to put silverware on the mantelpiece but the performance was questionable and I think the only thing you can take out of the day was we picked up the cup. 

"Potters Bar were decent and caused us some problems. We are going to have to improve.

"We trained really hard on Thursday night which will not benefit the players but there is a greater goal in mind, next Saturday.

"It is another game of football won and however you do it, it just breeds confidence.

"I just like the fact that we kept going. It looked like we might not have got back into the game.

"We put two up front, speculated a little bit and people started running in behind.

"We scored a couple of goals, the second was a little bit lucky but that's Sam's first goal for the club.

"It was a hot day but I'm hoping that it was Thursday night's training session that made us look a little bit leggy."

READ MORE: Potters Bar Town boss looking up rather than down after final loss

For Charles it was a fifth goal in a week, with the boss hailing his "electric" striker, and Saints will be looking for more when the National League South kicks off on Saturday with a home game against Maidstone United.

Noble said: "I'm looking forward to it and this is why you put the hours in and the hard work, the tough yards in the training pitch.

"It's for the National League South.

"The start of a long nine months and everyone is excited. I hope it is a good one."