Adam Parker holds of a Hayes player
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A bumpy playing surface, a swirling wind, a horrendous goal conceded, abysmal refereeing, two mass brawls, and a dreadful performance; yes St Albans City’s visit to Church Road on Saturday was not an occasion to remember with any great affection as the Saints winless run against the Missioners was extended to a tenth match.
Neither side deserved a jot from this scrappy Ryman League encounter but for the fourth consecutive match City conceded a goal that is fast becoming their trademark as a long ball over the defence – this time seemingly into no-man’s-land down the left of the visitors backline – caused goalkeeper George Clark and central defender Chris Seeby to dither and let in David Warner to claim his ninth goal the season with a bouncing shot into the most open of open goals.
Warner’s strike, after just four minutes following a pass from Mark Molesley, gave Hayes a fifth consecutive Premier Division win and virtually ensures their place in the new-look Conference League whilst the Saints are looking doomed for their lowest placing in the Premier Division since relegation from it thirty years ago.
Hayes could have doubled their advantage on nine minutes when a slip by Seeby let in Kevin Warner who shot wide when well placed. A minute later City produced a sweeping move across the pitch involving Richard Thomas and Scott Oakes which ended with Adam Parker, one of their best players on the day, helping the ball onto Lee Clarke whose cross towards the near post was helped on by Steve Watts past keeper Gary Jallow before being cleared.
Having started reasonably brightly the game soon began to fade away with only a shot from Peter Holsgrove – six goals in his two previous games – and a ball across the face of goal which eluded both Peter Holsgrove and Dwayne Williams coming close to breaking the tedium.
The second half continued in much the same vein as passes went astray with the rapidity of tumbling West Indian wickets, it made for a dismal spectacle. City’s best chance came on 64 minutes when a fine through ball by Greg Deacon sent Clarke away but after going round one defender the City striker sent a tame left-footed effort through to the grateful Jallow who was constantly barracked by visiting supporters for his ludicrous time-wasting tactics.
Six minutes later Clark needed two attempts to gather a well struck free kick just before Yiadom Yeboah could pounce on the loose ball. Although there had been a number of robust challenges it had certainly not been a dirty match but on 74 minutes a mass brawl, or more likely excessive push and shove, broke out following a clash between Richard Thomas and Peter Holsgrove. Those two were merely booked but extraordinarily not a single card was flashed five minutes later when a second flash-point erupted after Molesley, in retaliation to an innocuous tackle by Parker, shoved the City player to the ground to spark another unsightly scrimmage which no doubt the Saints chairman would describe as ‘hand-bags at fifty paces.’
In between those two incidents Kevin Warner and Molesley set up Jon Case for a shot that Clark saved low down while at the opposite end an inswinging Gary Wraight free kick just eluded the back post with Jallow well beaten.
With both defences dominating, helped by poor service to each attack, very few players emerged with much credit but one felt that City did not help themselves with their team selection. With Neil Gough and Oakes contributing so little whenever selected the side seems to be crying out for Deacon to be switched to the right with Dave Sargent coming in on the left. |
