The first Battle of these two Saints went the way of St Neots Town at Rowley Park on Saturday as the Cambridgeshire side moved four points clear of St Albans City in the Premier Division of the Southern League with an entertaining 3-2 Southern League victory.
City certainly played their part in an enjoyable encounter but St Neots are starting to look a formidable proposition with this fourth consecutive Premier Division success moving Iain Parr’s side into second place.
The Town side play a welcoming passing style, built around patience, however, despite scoring three times they almost trailed at the interval by possibly trying to be a bit too intricate around the edge of the penalty area.
St Albans lined up pretty much as expected although James Gray partnered Danny Gordon in the middle of the defence when Curtis Ujah received a phone call en route to the game regarding his expectant partner.
The opening 45 minutes on a sunny afternoon saw St Neots enjoy the greater share of possession but such was the quality of City’s defending that it took the home side 30 minutes to muster their first effort on goal.
Early on though it was City who made the inroads with Lewis Toomey looking lively and Sean Shields forcing home keeper Michael Duggan to dive full-length to concede a corner; one of 12 the visitors won during the afternoon.
From Richard Graham’s short corner Shields twisted by the goalline and drove the ball into the goalmouth where Arthur Lee hammered the ball away just as Toomey looked to pounce.
But Toomey only had to wait until the 23rd minute to score his first goal in 548 minutes.
City broke away down their left with Micah Hyde feeding Shields who, running away from goal, spun quickly and clipped a good pass to the edge of the six-yard box where Toomey controlled the ball on his right foot before hammering a left-footed drive past the diving Duggan.
City keeper Nick Jupp had his first moment of concern on the half hour when scampering across his goal to ensure a fine effort from Lewis Hilliard went wide of the target.
Ten minutes from break Chris Seeby won the ball and fed Barry Hayles whose excellent through ball allowed Toomey to nudge it wide of the advancing Duggan only to scuff his shot from 18 yards.
City were given a more severe test late in the half with Jupp called upon to deal with a Jay Davies free kick and an effort from Stefan Moore.
St Neots pulled level in added time at the end of the first half when Ryan Watts partially headed clear as Thorne backed into the City defender with the ball being collected by Ben Mackey.
Although Watts rose quickly from the ground Mackey slipped the ball inside the defender for Thorne to blast the equaliser to the right of Jupp. City appeals for offside against Thorne were rejected.
St Albans began the second half on the attack but generally, until the Saints rallied late in the day, the home side had the better of the half.
From their best move of the day City almost regained the lead soon after the restart.
Graham was twice involved before Toomey played the ball inside to Shields who, with a good run by Seeby drawing a defender out of position, found the space to unleash a ferocious swirling effort that Duggan did well to adjust his footing before pushing away high to his left.
St Albans had other chances to restore their lead with Duggan saving from Hyde’s half volley while Toomey skied a chipped shot way off target from a tight angle when Shields was completely unmarked on the edge of the penalty area.
Having weathered City’s best spell Town hit back strongly and went ahead on 57 minutes.
St Neots won the ball on the half way line in front of the main stand and with an excellent pass out to the right Hilliard cut City open. Dan Jacob wasted no time in sending over a low near post cross for Town skipper Moore to convert his seventh goal of the season.
The tide had turned and City were looking increasingly vulnerable. Moore, picking up a header from Gray, sent a looping effort just over while Jupp also made an excellent save from the same player.
Midway through the half Chris Henry, on for Graham, fed Shields who drifted across three defenders but when faced with just Duggan to beat scooped his shot over the bar.
St Neots took a firm grip on 79 minutes when Adeoye Yusuff, on for former City player Jean-Paul Duncliffe, cut in from the Town right and beat Jupp with a wonderful angled drive into the far corner of the net.
But the hosts were unable to ease up in the closing stages and St Albans, rated by home manager Parr as the best side St Neots have played this season, fought hard to salvage something from the game.
Some reward was forthcoming on 89 minutes when a Hyde free kick was headed away but collected by David Ijaha who played in Shields.
After sidestepping Hilliard, Shields sent a screaming effort from close on 30 yards high to the left of the diving Duggan for his eighth goal of a, thus far, highly productive campaign.
Henry caused St Neots several problems and almost snatched a draw when his rising shot from wide on the left had to be smartly tipped over by Duggan and from the ensuing corner, taken by Watts, Danny Gordon headed goalwards and James Gray saw his close range shot charged down by Davies.
David Howell’s City side remain in fifth place but with just one win in their past six games St Albans need to return to winning ways quickly and their cause will not be helped by a two-week lay-off until their next game at AFC Totton on 3rd November. |