THE wait proved worthwhile for St Albans as they picked up their second win of the season in their delayed game at West Herts.

The wet weather that had saved the Saints from defeat against Hoddesdon seven days earlier meant Saturday's Premier Division clash was late in starting.

But when it did get underway, Phil Caley's men were intent on making up for lost time and hauling themselves away from the wrong end of the table.

They started well as Richard O'Toole struck at the top of the card to leave West Herts on 9-1 and, in such awkward conditions, struggling for runs.

Jaffa Choudhry also slipped into his line and length early on and although he was to be kept waiting to add to O'Toole's wicket, he still bowled with the hostility that earned him a county call-up the next day.

Yet slowly but surely the second-wicket pairing of Fan (41) and Foster (77) staged a revival that threatened to put the game out of reach before Simon White and Chaudhry ended their innings just in time.

Their departures seemed to take the wind out of the West Herts sails and with White adding another wicket to end with 2-40, the Saints were able to stem the flow of runs and leave themselves chasing a modest 177-5.

But scoring runs has been a slight stumbling block for the Clarence Park side this season and in attempt to set an example and get the response off to the right start, captain Caley joined Roger Edbrooke in another new-look opening partnership.

The skipper hit 19 and his new partner 17 to lay a solid foundation for the the chase, but it needed a bullish half-century from Iain Curtis to keep his side up with the run rate. The middle order man produced some hard-hitting shots on his way to a vital 55, including two huge sixes that had visitors to Clarence Park walking around the boundary with a little more caution than usual.

Curtis found a welcome ally at the other end in the shape of former Hertfordshire skipper Nick Gilbert, whose stop-start summer finally got going with a supporting knock of 23.

Neither were able to stick around long enough to see their side past the target, but with all-rounder O'Toole (11no) and Alan Garofall (7no) calming any nerves, St Albans eventually edged home with three wickets still standing.