Spring in the air at Clarence Park for the visit of Bishops Stortford. 19th in the League with 34 points from 32 games, but they come to The Park on the back of 4 consecutive wins which lifted them out of the bottom 4 last week for the first time since November. Among their ranks are former Saints, Rob Gould and Al-James Hannigan. City are 3rd with 63 points from 35 games, and following Wednesday's win over the Ducks, are looking for two victories on the bounce for the first time since November, a remarkable statistic.
For today, Cookie selected Barry White from Langford in goal to replace the suspended Wilmot, 4 at the back: Evans, Moran, Naylor (C) and Lodge; 4 in the middle: Kean, Challinor, Hyatt and Young; and up front: Crawshaw and De Souza. On the bench: Martin, himself, and from reserves, Seeby, Stannard and Deacon. The injured were in the stand along with City Legend, Steve Clark, here to watch rather than looking for a game.
This was a strange one. A scrappy first half with a committed and workmanlike Stortford in the ascendancy over a City side slightly mis-firing. Limited goal-mouth action at either end although White showed his shot-stopping ability on a couple of occasions, overall the debutant keeper had a nervy game between the stcks. Lodge was injured and replaced by Deacon who will be very pleased with his contribution today. The goal came, against the run of play, 5 minutes before the interval. Gould fouled Young 35 yards out and got away with a yellow card. Kean's free-kick into the area was back-headed on by De Souza and again by Crawshaw to find Young at the near post who volleyed high into the net from a yard. 1-0. H.T.
The Saints increased the tempo in the second half and began to stretch the visitors defence. Although not firing on all cylinders today, City were working hard for each other and looked the more likely to add to the score. The goal came with 15 minutes left. A Challinor free-kick deep beyond the goal was cleverly headed back by Crawshaw to Kean who beat the keeper from 10 yards. 2-0. Young, who had a quiet game today, was replaced by Martin, with De Souza dropping to the right side of midfield and Kean swithing to the left. City seemed to be in control and just into injury time added another. A Kean corner was not cleared and Naylor took one touch and hit a sweet shot past Desborough, the skipper's first goal for the Club. 3-0 and all over.
No. The few visiting fans who left to beat the rush missed 2 Stortford goals. City were caught napping by two long passes and Aransibia shot fiercely from 20 yards to deny White a clean sheet bonus. 3-1. Moments later, the same player scored from a corner but that was the last action of the game. 3-2 F.T.
Stortford shaded both the first half and injury time. Work-rate and committment should see them through this season. City certainly worked hard for each other today and dfeserved the 3 points overall. MotM? Kean, Evans, Moran ar Crawshaw. Deacon did well in midfield. The attendance was 428 with a vocal 150 or so down from north Hertfordshire.
Entertainment 7/10. Atmosphere 7/10. Technical merit 6/10. Referee 8/10.
Report by Homer |
