Having had their endeavour questioned on more than one occasion during the early weeks of the new campaign, St Albans City produced their grittiest display so far this season in drawing at Basingstoke Town on Tuesday evening and bringing to an end a run of three successive pointless visits to the Camrose.
Although Ernie Howe’s Basingstoke side certainly had the majority of the play City were good value for their share of the spoils and but for a couple of highly debatable decisions may have returned home with a welcome victory. Referee Mr Curtis had to face a few strong words from City boss Steve Cook at the end of the first half after the match official played a ludicrous advantage – when City were far from in control of the ball – just seconds before Alex Ewin fired ‘Stoke ahead.
Earlier in the half the referee angered the Saints after disallowing a Graeme Tomlinson goal due to Miguel De Souza and a Town defender being involved in a completely accidental collision with the onrushing home keeper Scott Tarr, it was a clearly ludicrous error of judgement.
The game itself was far from a classic but it was played at a high tempo and neither side could be faulted for its workrate. Basingstoke offered the greater attacking threat courtesy of Craig McAllister’s strength in the air and Neville Roach’s trickery on the ground. Former Saint Roach however, was fortunate not to see a red card following a series of niggling fouls and one outrageous dive which earned him no more than a mild reprimand.
Basingstoke almost went ahead on four minutes when McAllister nodded on a long kick by Tarr to Roach whose looping shot struck an upright while City captain Derek Brown, who was in outstanding form, was lucky to escape with no more than conceding a free kick after pulling back McAllister just outside the penalty area.
City countered with Tomlinson’s disallowed goal but then were relieved when an offside flag waved in their favour as Roach struck home a loose ball after Richard Wilmot had parried Neville Stamp’s powerful drive. But ‘Stoke did finally get one that counted on 33 minutes when Mr Curtis acknowledged a foul in City’s favour but bizarrely waved advantage just as City lost possessions, within a split second Wilmot had blocked Roach’s shot but could do nothing to stop Alex Ewin sticking away the rebound.
The in-form De Souza was only denied an equaliser by the outstretched boot of Tarr while Tomlinson had a low shot easily saved after being set up by Scott Oakes clever quick free kick. A fine save by Wilmot from Roach kept City in contention and just five minutes into the second period the Saints drew level when Mark Graham pulled the ball back to Lee Gledhill whose near post cross was smartly headed into his own net by Town defender Jason Bristow as De Souza closed in.
Although City posed more problems for Basingstoke thereafter than they did during the first half it must be said that Tarr was seldom troubled. At the opposite end Wilmot, too, had few direct shots to worry about but the City custodian did have a number of testing crosses to contend with. he nearest City came to snatching all three points was courtesy of an excellent piece of quick control and opportunist shot over by Oakes, a header by Brown and a snap shot just wide by the offside Greg Deacon
Report by Dave Tavener |
