The City concluded their season’s programme on Saturday when they entertained the 2nd Coldstream Guards, the new champions of the Spartan League, at Clarence Park on Saturday.
As the City will probably be runners-up and many good matches have taken place between the two teams, a good contest was expected, but the hopes of those who contributed to a £15 gate were doomed to disappointment. Except for a few bright passages by the Guards’ clever forwards, the play was of the most dull description.
The championship being already decided, there was no inducement for anyone to go “all out” and as the Guards were not quite so spiritless as the City, they thoroughly deserved their victory of a goal to nil.
The goal which won the match came towards the end of the first half from the foot of the opportunist Higgins and after that it was only on very rare occasions that either team looked like scoring. Certain of the Guards’ defenders were rough-and-ready in their methods and there were one or two scenes in the second half when the game had become very robust.
Reprinted from “The Herts Advertiser and St Albans Times” 26th April 1913.
This was first league defeat since losing by two goals to nil to the same opponents on 30th November 1912 and only the third all season. |
