Steve Watts in action
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Pressure is mounting on St Albans City manager Steve Castle following Saturday’s depressing defeat at Clarence Park which allowed Billericay Town to move off the foot of the Ryman League Premier Division table for the first time in three months.
With City well on the way to their fifth straight defeat since the turn of the year and their eighth defeat in 13 league games under their current manager, Castle threw himself into the fray but was greeted by a splattering of jeers and received further abuse at the final whistle following another inept City performance.
Castle’s coaching capabilities may not come into question but his managerial capabilities are not standing up to scrutiny and as a succession of poor new signings plod through the ever revolving dressing room door it is hard to see the Saints escaping from they free-fall they are currently trapped in.
Castle gave debuts to three new players; left back Graeme Butler (from Leyton Orient), midfielder Michael Shinn (Cambridge United) and striker Steve Watts (Dagenham & Redbridge). Whilst the first two had ‘quiet’ games Watts was full of pose but completely lacked the application required to get City out of their downward plunge. His acquisition hardly aided City’s cause whilst Castle’s decision to put veteran striker Roger Willis to the right of the midfield effectively reduced the side to ten men – a good finisher he may be but a workhorse midfielder he is not.
The afternoon could have turned out so differently had Lee Clarke not fluffed the simplest of headed chances from eight yards following a fifth minute Scott Oakes free kick. That chance came during a promising opening by the Saints but once Billericay took the lead on 15 minutes City heads dropped and the Essex side had little trouble in securing their first league win at the Park in four years.
The goal was as simple as any seen this season, Pat Sappleton launched a long free kick into the home penalty area and to the embarrassment of City’s beleaguered defence they were out-jumped by former Saint Graeme Tomlinson who calmly nodded the ball down for Chris Stowe to carefully slip the ball to George Clark’s left and into the Hatfield Road goal.
Sixteen minutes later and the contest was effectively over and again City’s defending was woeful. Jamie Dormer played the ball down the Town left but Derek Brown looked to be safely intercepting the pass until he stumbled and allowed Stowe to escape and cross deep to Steve Jones whose volley was well blocked by Clarke only for the Billericay man to bravely head home the rebound. It was to be Jones last contribution as a head injury he sustained in forcing the ball home curtailed his part in the proceedings.
Clarke had a half chance to reduce the arrears before the break but was comfortably denied by Town keeper Luke Weaver while only a miskick by Stowe after City keeper Clark had saved from Tomlinson saved the Saints from falling further behind.
Both sides had chances during the second half but the overall quality in producing those chances was low although Billericay did not look a bottom of the table side. For City, Brown glanced a header wide from an Oakes corner, Willis had a dipping header knocked off the line by Gary Henty and Weaver saved well from both Clarke and Castle.
At the opposite end Clark made a fine save from an Andy Jones header and the same player was also out of luck when Clark pushed his low shot against the inside of the post before it was whacked out for a corner.
Report by Dave Tavener |
