Goals may have been in short supply for Lee Clarke over the past 18 months but the 90th minute penalty he swept low to the left of the deceived Bromley ‘keeper Andy Walker on Saturday lifted a great weight from the collective shoulders of the Clarence Park faithful and was as much a tonic for the St Albans City captain as it was his team.
The Saints have most definitely looked off-colour when winning just one of their previous 19 home matches since the start of February whilst their leading marksman was physically ill in the dressing room just moments before the 99th meeting of these long standing rivals. Both Clarke and his team look considerably healthier with a win that completes City’s first league double for two seasons and presented manager Dave Anderson with his first taste of victory on home soil.
Anderson admitted that City rode their luck at times, none more so than just ten minutes into the game when Gary Elphick’s headed clearance was collected by Danny Hockton whose early shot from just outside the box almost wrong footed Nick Eyre who did well to palm the ball onto his right hand upright.
Although City matched Bromley shot-for-shot during the opening 45 minutes the better chances came the way of the visitors and Eyre had to be alert again to deal with a good drive on the turn by Gareth Williams, from the ensuing corner Ben Judge headed narrowly wide.
Bromley keeper Walker matched Eyre’s acrobatics on 18 minutes when the tireless Richard Butler took a return pass from Clarke and shot low. Walker blocked with his feet and stretched superbly to push away Butler’s well placed follow up. A purple patch for the Saints continued with Jon Stevenson turning and drilling just over the bar while the gritty midfielder then forced Walker into another fine full stretch save low to his left with a controlled volley from a Paul Bruce pass.
Eyre saved well at the feet of an unusually subdued Sam Wood but the keeper City custodian could do nothing but dive in vain as a well struck shot by Wood, following a fine run by Garath McCleary, crashed against the inside of his right hand post and zipped across the face of the goal.
The second half began encouragingly for City with Butler setting up Scott Cousins but his shot flew comfortably over the target. City’s normally beleaguered defence restricted Bromley to precious few clear chances after the break but Eyre still had to be sharp to catch a chip by Wood and followed that with an instinctive save with his feet as Tutu Henriques tried to stab the ball in from close range.
St Albans demonstrated a welcome desire to press forward in the later stages although Cousins spooned a 20-yard free kick way over the top after Hassan Sulaiman had been brought down by Mark Corneille. Five minutes from time the again impressive Hasim Deen launched a free kick deep into the Bromley half that Clarke headed on for Butler, with a smart overhead kick, to pull out one more spectacular save from Walker.
As the game drifted into the final minute City pressed forward once more with Craig Vargas clipping a pass down the left to Butler. Cousins cleverly sent Butler into the box where the busy striker went down following a shove by Corneille. Referee Carl Berry decided against a second booking for the Bromley defender but he was fully punished as Clarke competently sent Walker the wrong way to successfully convert City’s first penalty since April – and first successful one since January.
Report by David Tavener |