Lee Clarke in action
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Two tussles consisting of little more than one hundred and eighty minutes of blood and gory ended at Clarence Park on Tuesday night with St Albans City, courtesy of three second half goals, finally brushing to one side the physical challenge offered by Southern League Division One East outfit Enfield Town.
Saints were simply grateful that two matches that were painful to watch and certainly a great deal more physically painful for a number of players have been consigned to the pages of history and can now look forward to an enticing FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round tie at Clarence Park with Conference North side Kettering Town on 8 October.
But whilst it is easy to be critical of Enfield’s bruising attempts to deny the Saints the opportunity to play their preferred passing game, it was also disappointing to see the ease with which City also dished out some unsavoury retribution.
From the early stages it was evident that flowing football was going to be in short supply and when Matt Hann, on six minutes, scuffed a decent opportunity in front of the visitors goal an evening of frustration and bitterness ensued. With both defences generally on top it took another 30 minutes before City seriously threatened the home goal again with Lee Clarke heading wide from a Mark Graham cross and then slicing a shot wide after a defensive slip had let in the Saints leading marksman.
City’s best move of the half, involving Tom Davis, Chris Seeby and Matt Hann, ended with Andy Hall comfortably taking Clarke’s soft header. Enfield showed tremendous pace going forward but created precious little in front of goal and other than for a couple of long range efforts a free kick by Rudi Hall, easily held by Paul Bastock, was the sum total of their threat to the Hatfield Road goal.
Enfield maintained a high tempo at the start of the second period but two incidents, eight minutes apart, effectively ended their interest in the competition. On 54 minutes Hall got behind Scott Cousins and crossed low to the unmarked Bryan Hammatt who, just eight yards out, drilled his shot high over the relieved Bastock’s goal.
On 62 minutes Hammatt’s team mate Russell Penn showed him the way to goal but unfortunately for the large Enfield contingent amongst a disappointingly small crowd, it was at the wrong end of the pitch as he planted a Mark Graham corner into his own net.
Any hopes that City had now shaken off their shackles were misguided and the constant stoppages for infringements, sometimes menial but often malicious, continued to blight this sordid affair but on 73 minutes City did at last move into a commanding position with a second goal.
Graham was again the provider as his corner from the City left was headed goalwards by Peter Castle on his home debut for Simon Martin to apply the faintest of touches with his forehead to claim his fifth goal of the season. Enfield responded positively with Hall sending a crisp drive just over while a clever shot on the turn by Matt Negus saw Bastock scamper across his goal before tipping the ball away for a corner.
City ended the match with greater attack intent than seen over the course of the two games only for Hann to fail to take advantage of two good chances while Clarke, after a sweeping build up involving Dean Cracknell, Martin and Hann, fired over as he appeared to be impeded.
However City did add a somewhat fortuitous third goal in the seventh minute of added time as a short corner was played back to Anthony Allman whose cross looped up off Cracknell’s right shoulder over keeper Andy Hall and into the net via the underside of the bar.
Match report by Dave Tavener. Kindly supplied by The St Albans Observer. |