Simon Martin takes on the Havant defense.
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A year which commenced with St Albans City at the foot of the Conference South table ended with a glorious display to see off fellow promotion contenders Havant & Waterlooville on Saturday as Colin Lippiatt’s side cemented third place with the promise of exciting times ahead for the Clarence Park faithful.
City’s first half performance contained some of their finest moments of the season with the skills paraded by, in particular, Scott Cousins, Ben Walshe and Matt Hann, packing more explosives than the New Year fireworks.
Whether these skills will result in promotion for the Divisions top scorers is unknown but certainly the team Lippiatt has created deserves far better support than the derisory 560 that turned up to see the Saints secure their 12th league win of the season.
St Albans showed two changes from the side that won on Boxing Day with Simon Martin standing in for the injured Paul Hakim, and Patrick Ada taking Dean Cracknell’s place in midfield, City simply took the changes in their stride and were almost ahead inside two minutes as Lee Clarke dived in to meet a Walshe cross. Unfortunately for the Hawks, Clarke collided with visiting keeper Colin Matthews who was replaced during the interval by former Saint Gareth Howells.
Inside the opening 15 minutes Tom Jordan and Carl Wilson-Denis, with a header and shot respectively, squandered guilt edged chances for Havant while Walshe forced a goalline clearance from Jordan and a Wilson-Denis miskick from a Walshe corner was blocked on the line by Tony Taggart.
The speed of Hann down the right and the combination of Cousins and Walshe on the opposite flank was causing the Hawks all manner of problems and on 18 minutes City were rewarded with an outstanding goal. Paul Bastock, imperious throughout, launched a long kick to wide on the right that Martin retrieved and slipped inside to Hann who darted between two defenders and cut a perfect low cross into the path of Clarke who confirmed his return to form with his 12th goal of the season.
Five minutes later Hann should have added a second following Martin’s pinpoint knock down but blazed a first time effort well over when he had time to get the ball down. Hann then did well to reach an overhit Cousins cross and forced Matthews to concede a corner as the ball almost crept inside the near post.
Havant ended the half with two off target efforts from Jamie Collins while Wilson-Dennis, who had a dismal afternoon, wasted another free header from a Shea Saunders cross.
Howells was called into action within seconds of the restart when his risky pass saw Luke Byles lose possession with Tom Davis’s audacious long-range effort quickly focusing the Hawks custodian on the task facing him. Davis, attempting few of his trademark long crossfield passes, had an excellent game in the middle of the park and put through some wonderful low through balls to free Hann.
But generally City’s second half performance lacked the sparkle of the opening 45 minutes although this was compensated by a defensive quartet of Cousins, Nick Burton, Nathan Bunce and the eye-catching Chris Seeby, that comfortably quelled Havant’s attacking intentions.
Midway through the half though Matt Gray headed down a Taggart free kick to Seb Wallis-Tayler but the substitutes rising shot flew wide via the apex of post and crossbar. Following that miss frustration crept into the visitor’s game and within a short space of time three of Ian Baird’s defenders were cautioned for poor late challenges.
City made the points safe 17 minutes from time when Walshe won a corner that Hann swung into the York Road goalmouth but was missed by Clarke only for the diving Martin to head high into the roof of the net.
Byron Harrison, set up by Darren Annon, wasted a golden opportunity to breathe new life into the Hawks cause but during the final three minutes City should have increased their tally, firstly when Hann showed devastating pace to soar past Byles but flashed an angled shot across Howells when Clarke was well placed for a square ball. But Clarke, after intercepting a Jordan back pass and going wide of Howells, was equally wasteful with a teasing ball that rolled across the face of the goal when Davis was unmarked on the edge of the penalty area.
Match report by Dave Tavener. Kindly supplied by The St Albans Observer. |
