ST ALBANS MEN'S HOCKEY CLUB return to league action on Sunday, February 3, and the largest hockey club in the country is within touching distance of rejoining hockey's elite in the National Premier Division.

The Tangerines currently enjoy a two-point gap at the top of the table, and are hot favourites to clinch promotion.

However, the Clarence Park outfit could have been facing a very different scenario after almost dropping out of the National League three years ago.

In 1999, the club were in disarray and facing relegation from Division Two before, against all odds, somehow avoiding the drop.

However, the crisis has proved to be a major turning point and Saints are now beginning to reap the rewards of a major overhaul of the club's infrastructure.

Andy Halliday, a Saint for 21 years, has experienced both the highs and lows with the Hertfordshire Club and admits that relegation from the National League would have been a disaster.

He said: "If we had dropped out of the National league, I feel the top section of the club would have fallen apart.

"We were living on our successes at the indoor game and sadly neglecting the outdoor game. The whole approach needed a shake up."

However, the Saints have come back from the brink and now, with the Daily Express as sponsor, seem to have sorted their problems out both on and off the field, with manager Graham Webster instrumental in the turnaround in the club's fortunes.

"Top level hockey is still an amateur sport that demands a professional approach behind the scenes," said Webster.

"The club had to look forward to develop the correct structure. We might not yet be in the Premier league, but off the field we have a Premier League approach."

When the Australian Craig Keegan, the club's first paid coach, left by mutual consent in December 1999, this professional infrastructure was already in place and St Albans cast their eye for one of Hockey's bigger names to take over the rebuilding mission at the club.

Olympian Julian Halls was appointed in the summer of 2000 and the club have not looked back since, with Halls training methods, as well as his performances on the pitch, inspiring the club.

"We have the players to win this league, but must find consistency," said Halls.

"Without improvement and a couple of additions to the squad, we will struggle in the league above, there is a very big gulf between Division One and the Premiership."

St Albans are back in outdoor league action this weekend, hoping to leave behind them a disappointing indoor campaign, and the side warmed up with a convincing, if one-sided 10-0 victory over regional league Broxbourne on Thursday evening.

Defensively, Halls is happy with the squad, but losing the talented forward James Stedman for the second half of the season results in a shortage in fire-power up front, and South African Anthony Weinberg is the only addition to a squad that will rely heavily on set pieces during the coming months.

Saints face a crunch fixture at Stourport on Sunday, but know if they can repeat the performances of the first half of the season in the next couple of months, a once unlikely return to the top level will be the deserved award.