St Albans City manager David Noble on defeat at Dorking

Saints have picked up just one point from those opening fixtures but had a bank holiday weekend to forget as they fell to two 2-1 defeats, the first at home to Chesham United on Saturday and the second away to Dorking Wanderers on Monday.

The results leave them third from bottom of the table and already nine points away from the play-offs.

Now is the time to be frustrated admitted Noble but not the time to panic.

Players and supporters need to be as one according to St Albans City manager David Noble. Picture: JIM STANDEN (Image: Jim Standen)

Speaking after the Dorking game, the boss said: "Surely the fans can see the performance? Surely they can see the way the game has panned out?

"Moments like this happen in football and we are having a bad rub of the green at the minute.

"We need everyone to stick together, see the performances and see the effort and the passion from the players and things will turn.

"But [Dorking] was very similar to most of the other games. It's a game where you come out of it scratching your head.

"That's how it is going for us at the minute. We are going to have to keep working hard, that's the only way we'll get out of this."

And while he is scratching his head, he does see which areas need improving - and they come in both boxes.

Noble said: "It's difficult for me to say I'm not disappointed with the performances, we've only got one point from five games, but I'm not.

"Here we're 1-0 up and [we concede] a really silly goal. Individual errors are costing us and then we concede from a set-piece, the third one this season.

"That's people not marking in the box and not quite doing their job correctly and it is costing us.

"We've had a bad week with [defensive] injuries. We lost Tafari Moore on Saturday, Joe Partington has a groin injury and then we'd lost Ben Smith the week before at Hornchurch.

"It was difficult for bodies but that brings opportunities for other people.

"Kieran Gauthier was superb. He took a boot to the head but he's a centre-half, that's par for the course and he's going to get a lot more of them.

"But he stuck his head in where it hurts and that's what I'm looking for.

"The kid and Dan Bowery were excellent at the back and it is difficult when you are coming away without three points but you can't forget the performances."

At the other end of the pitch, he wants to see more desire from his strikers.

"It's more when we're putting crosses into the box and we're not scoring them, that bothers me more," he said.

"You have to have that hunger to score goals, especially the situation we are in at the minute.

"You have to want to score, you have to want to be in the right position every time that ball comes in the box, you have to want to be there.

"There were five or six balls, probably two or three good ones that have gone right across the box and we have three centre-forwards on at the time.

"We need to score goals so when balls are coming into the box, maybe that is why we're not scoring them, because we are not there."