Scott Cousins
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Put the calculators away – we are safe!
The magnificent work carried out by Colin Lippiatt since he sneaked in through the back door to become the Saints manager during the early part of the winter has born fruit over the past five days with the clubs first silverware for five years being swiftly followed by the certainty of St Albans City now being able to plan for a second season of life in the Nationwide Conference South.
Saturday’s victory over a Havant & Waterlooville side that had tasted defeat just once in its previous dozen games was by no means as emphatic as it looks on paper but that the credit for our finest hour, okay ninety minutes, should go to two players who have probably contributed most this season to our survival - Lee Clarke and Paul Bastock – just seems like the icing on the cake.
Clarke scored his second hat trick of the season, and third since joining from Peterborough United, while Bastock made a succession of quite fantastic saves to take the Saints to 51 points for the season; three more than with which we stole the final play-off place last season. The record books will point to Clarke, due to his excellent treble, as being the City hero of this game and given his record of 13 goals in his past 13 appearances the Northern Ireland Under 21 international deserves all the praise heaped in his direction, but most of those in the disappointingly low crowd of 384 know that the person who laid the foundation for Clarke to be the star of the show was the Lincolnshire lad Bastock.
For the Saints 50th match of the season Lippiatt brought Chris Zoricich back into the starting line up for the first time in seven weeks, he went to right back with Chris Seeby switching to the left and Scott Cousins being given his first run out in midfield. Cousins has played there prior to joining the Saints and he certainly looked comfortable in this more attacking role as he gave one of his best performances of the season, his use of the ball and crossing certainly increased our attacking options. In the centre of the defence Ben Martin, playing alongside Gary Elphick, continued his run of good form and was unfortunate to pick up a harsh booking from referee Dave Bushell who, overall, had a pretty decent game.
The match got off to a lively start although far too many misdirected passes stopped the game from being a free flowing spectacle. However, even from early on it was clear that both sides would pose problems when going forward. Even so it took a misunderstanding to present the first real goalscoring opportunity of the afternoon as Elphick and Bastock sent confusing messages to each other as the ball rolled towards the edge of the penalty. Hawks Dave Town nipped in but had his shot blocked by the City keeper. From then on the Hampshire outfit created the better chances and will have travelled home wondering how they managed to leave all three points behind at Clarence Park.
Bastock made the first of his spectacular saves just prior to the half hour when tipping over the crossbar a header from Tom Jordan following a Jamie Campbell cross. City responded with an excellent long crossfield ball from Ram Marwa to Seeby who in turn found Cousins whose glorious cross from the left just eluded both Clarke and Matt Hann. Another ball in from Cousins saw Marwa make a delightful dummy to open up enough space for Clarke to shoot narrowly wide following a quick twist.
A swift Havant counterattack ended with Jamie Collins going close with scorching drive but on 39 minutes City sniffed Conference South safety as Clarke opened the scoring. The Saints leading scorer battled to unsettle Hawks defender Neil Champion and from nothing a chance suddenly opened up as Kezie Ibe burst forward to seize on the loose ball and dart into the penalty area. Diving at Ibe’s feet, Gareth Howells, a veteran of 209 games during his four seasons at St Albans, did well to take the sting off the ball but as it tickled into the six-yard box Clarke tore in to slide the ball into the Hatfield Road goal.
The remainder of the half, four bookings aside, was a taster for the second period as Havant upped the tempo and but for two stunning tip over the bar saves by Bastock would have gone in at half time a least on level terms. The visitors also made rowdy claims for a penalty when Elphick appeared to handle as he denied Neil Sharp a header on goal.
Both sides were unchanged at the start of the second half and so was the flow of the game as Havant, for the opening ten minutes, hammered away furiously at the City goal. Picking out Bastock’s best save would not be easy but how the Saints custodian managed to claw away a Robbie Pethick half-volley that was screaming towards the top corner of the goal was a moment to treasure. The former Boston United keeper then dealt smartly with a Jamie Campbell header and the Hawks must have felt that this was not to be their day when a blistering drive from Collins almost uprooted the goal as it struck the underside of the crossbar, much to City’s relief Town had to stretch just a touch too much to get on the rebound and scooped it over the bar.
But that miss was nothing compared the one seen moments later as Collins squared the ball to Brett Poate who cultivated the miss of the season in lifting the ball over the most open of open goals from barely six yards. City’s good fortune had to give at some stage and on 55 minutes the Hawks, minus the flu-ridden Dean Holdsworth, were back on level terms as Town crossed low for James Taylor to strike the right note by sweeping home the equaliser.
A touch miffed City hit back four minutes later with a blow that clearly rocked the visitors and restored the Saints confidence. Martin led a City break with a fine ball out to Cousins who, after advancing, played it to the middle of the edge of the penalty area where Marwa neatly held up play before slipping it out to the right to Clarke. After declining to shoot first time Clarke cut inside Campbell from the right before firing inside Howells near post to join Holdsworth on 22 league goals this season.
St Albans relegation fears evaporated ten minutes later with a clinical third that also had a touch of Chaplin slapstick about it. Tom Davis, who had a fine second half after an indifferent opening 45 minutes, swung a wonderful corner in from the Saints right to the edge of the six-yard box but it was headed out of the area as far as Hann. After steadying himself Han then sliced high, and well wide, a shot that bounced scarcely a yard from the goalline but such was his miscue that the inordinate spin he put on the ball saw it roll wide along the goalline for Davis to realise that it was not going out of play and clip a precise cross over for Clarke to rise to head home his 23rd league goal of the season; leaving just Mark Groves at Dorchester (with 24) above him in the leading scorers chart.
Havant were finally beaten and City pressed hard for a fourth in the closing stages. A mad scramble saw the combination of two defenders and Howells thwart Clarke while in injury time a fine move involving Chris Wild, Seeby and Clarke saw Gavin Tomlin race clear but stutter as Howells came to meet him and deny him his moment of glory by saving at the youngsters feet.
A strange game to reflect on as Havant dominated for long stretches and caused the City defence more problems than encountered in most games this season, maybe though it was payback time as Havant were excessively defensive and time-wasting during their FA Trophy success at the Park earlier in the season so perhaps City were due their good fortune on this occasion.
Clarke, with 31 goals in all competitions, has now scored more goals in one season for St Albans than any player since Steve Clark was top scorer for the eighth of his nine successive seasons in 1998-99 with 40.
Report by David Tavener |
