A trio of top quality second half goals carried St Albans City to welcome Premier Division victory at struggling Purfleet on Saturday which lifted the Saints into a top ten position and condemned the poorly supported Essex club to a seat in the bottom three which, on this evidence, is wholly justified.
City showed four changes from the side defeated in midweek by Hendon with just one, leading goalscorer Gary Ansell, being due to injury. With Ansell absent City opted to play Junior Samuels as a lone striker in a tactic which did not really come off but the addition of the powerful Danny Jones to the midfield was a certain plus point. At the heart of the defence Richard Goddard and Al-James Hannigan were competent against an attack clearly lacking a shred of confidence.
The Saints began brightly with Mark Rooney firing in a shot from 25 yards which went a yard over the top while Fleet keeper Steve Mead had to move quickly from his goal to clear after a short back from Jimmy McFarlane almost let in Samuels. But it was Purfleet, despite creating less in front of goal, who should have gained a first half advantage when a quick throw from Micky Engwell set up Paul Coombs who wastefully hurried his shot and drove the ball high and wide.
The half ended with a flurry of activity around Mead's goal as the keeper saved a header from Jones and Gary Howard got in an excellent tackle to deflect the ball back to his keeper as the same player burst through the defence. City had confident penalty appeals rejected as McFarlane seemed to haul down Samuels after the striker cleverly dummied the ball.
Even during the early exchanges after the interval there was no hint of what was to come, especially when Coombs twice moved into dangerous positions for the Fleet. His first effort was blocked by a superbly timed Peter Risley tackle while the Saints were relieved to see his second effort deflect wide off Laurence Batty's legs.
Three minutes later, the 65th, the match took a decisive twist in City's favour following a foul by McFarlane on Samuels. After runs over the dead-ball by David Pratt and Spencer Knight, Piper stepped up to curl a delightful 25 yard free-kick wide of the wall and just inside Mead's left hand post. That goal transformed both sides outlook and within two minutes City had doubled their lead with a well constructed effort. Lee Harvey and Pratt opened up Purfleet's left flank with a delightful one-two and from Harvey's low cross Jones swept the ball home from ten yards out.
The third City goal was briefly delayed as referee Mr O'Keefe turned a blind eye to Howard whipping the ball away from Samuels with his arm but on 75 minute the Saints struck for a third time in ten match winning minutes. Again it was a memorable goal as Piper, in a run so reminiscent of his brother last season, collected the ball just into the Purfleet half and ran at the heart of the home defence before unleashing an unstoppable shot low to Mead's left.
More goals seemed in the offing but surprisingly the final strike of the afternoon came at the other end of the pitch as John Keeling, from a seemingly impossible angle, shot past Batty for his first goal of the season. |
