St Albans City climbed into the play-off places with an impressive 3-0 victory away at Bath City.

The Saints had never beaten Bath before and were made to work hard in defence, while goals from Clovis Kamdjo, Sam Merson and Ben Wyatt ensured they continued their push for promotion as the season draws to an end.

While the win appeared simple enough in the end, the Saints needed a bit of luck to ensure they did not concede early on. First Dean Snedker pulled off a fine save to deny Jack Batten before Adam Mann found the crossbar with his first-time effort on the rebound, all within the first five minutes of the game.

After holding firm during the early pressure St Albans scored with quarter of an hour played with their first effort on target.

Kamdjo connected with Khale Da Costa’s corner inside the six yard box and headed the ball into the roof of the net.

At the other end, Snedker was performing admirably to keep the score down, with a fine save to deny Sean Rigg quickly followed by a second stop to prevent Joe Raynes’ strike from levelling the tie before the half-time whistle.

The Romans began the second half on the front foot once again, but failed to capitalise as Robbie Cundy put his header over the bar just three minutes after the restart.

Snedker was again kept busy this time from James Morton whose effort forced the save from the Saints’ keeper from a tight angle before Kamdjo cleared the ball to safety.

It seemed a case of when not if for the hosts’ equaliser, but in the 54th minute Michael Clark led the charge into the Bath half before delivering a cross from deep with pinpoint accuracy that Merson headed back across the keeper and over the line off the far post.

Luke Joyce-Dwarika was brought off the bench to help close the game out and he more than played his part when he scurried down the right-hand-side before squaring to Solomon Sambou, whose shot was well-blocked inside the box, but the ball broke kindly for Wyatt who rolled the ball home to seal the victory.

After the game Ian Allinson told the club website the game was the toughest the Saints had played in for a while and that he felt his side had stolen the points.

“I think anyone who’s seen the game would say it was a tough, tough game,” said Allinson.

“It was probably the toughest game we’ve had for a long period. I felt we couldn’t leave too many holes because of the system and the way they play.

“They’re excellent on the ball and they move the ball really quickly and like to get in behind and I we had to be really disciplined.

“In the first-half I actually didn’t think that we were as disciplined as we should’ve been and I think really in the end we’ve come here and we’ve stole a victory.

“As I’ve said before, sometimes you have to win ugly and today I think we’ve won ugly.

“We got our rewards in the end because I think we’ve only had three shots in the whole game, but it was nice to come away with a clean sheet.

“The scoreline suggests it, but it wasn’t a comfortable game. They’ve had a lot of chances in terms of corners and balls in the bx and we’ve had to defend very, very well.”