St Albans City's headfirst plunge down the Ryman League Premier Division table showed no signs of abating last Saturday as the Saints slumped to a grim defeat against what, on this evidence, is the poorest Sutton United side to have visited the Park for many a long year.
City manager Kevin Mudd politely compared the opening 45 minutes to a preseason friendly, in truth it was shoddy, pathetic, clueless football which was greeted with a deathly hush on the terraces. To their credit, not that much should come their way after a game such as this, St Albans looked a far more cohesive and positive outfit after the interval and should really have taken the three points off a side forced, through misfortune, to field their third choice keeper, 18 year old Tom Dunn.
The possibility of the Saints capitalising on their second half superiority though diminished just three minutes after the restart when joint leading goalscorer Gary Ansell was whisked off to hospital with a dislocated left shoulder. And City's growing injury problems didn't end there, already without six players sidelined through injury, the Saints later lost defender Corey Campbell with a badly gashed leg following a clash with Sutton's Paul Sears.
Getting back to the first half, not that anyone really wants to be reminded of it, it was almost impossible to believe that on show were two of the most powerful Ryman League clubs of the past decade, the only saving grace was the glorious late summer sunshine. Sutton's long serving boss John Rains is in throes of rebuilding his side following last season's disastrous brief stay in the Nationwide Conference and prior to the break United were the better of two very poor sides.
Richard Thompson squandered an early chance for the visitors whilst City did likewise immediately after with Junior Samuels firing well over. A fine interception by the recalled Andy Futcher denied Danny Hodson a simple opportunity from a Paul Harford cross but Hodson hardly covered himself in glory when missing the ball after a promising build up involving Sears and Harford. With the half being littered by numerous stoppages for petty free-kicks and the ball spending an eternity being hoofed aimlessly skywards, the likelihood of either side scoring was remote although somehow both sides went close towards the interval. Nko Ekoku clipped the City crossbar with a cross whilst young Dunn distinguished himself when stretching to push upwards Samuels measured chip which allowed Ryan Palmer to complete the clearance.
Despite the loss of Ansell so soon after the restart, City looked a reasonable outfit for 20 minutes or so. Campbell went on a long run starting just inside the Sutton half and finished it with a good effort from 20 yards which Dunn did well to push around his left hand post. City should have forged ahead on 54 minutes but somehow new signing James Campbell, on loan from Peterborough United, missed the ball with his head from a Danny Jones corner and then missed it with his feet five yards from goal when it bounced back to him.
Ryan Moran, starting a league match for the first time this season, sent a good ball up to Robbie Simpson - playing his first game since May - and the former Tottenham man was only kept out by Dunn's outstretched legs. Teenager Dunn crowned his day midway through the half when diverting around the post a rising effort from the edge of the penalty area by Chris Piper whose midfield partnership with Jones is not flourishing in the manner many had anticipated.
As City's second half dominance began to fade Sutton gradually eased their way back into the game and Thompson looked to have sealed the points after setting off on a wonderful run through the City defence only to see his shot under Laurence Batty roll wide of the target.
A late City flurry almost brought about the desired result when Futcher led a charge through the heart of the Sutton defence only for Simpson to lose control of the ball and slip it back to Futcher whose scooped shot went over the top. With that both sides seemed resigned to settling on a thoroughly unsatisfactory draw until former Wycombe striker Thompson, in the fourth minute of injury time, received a pass from Andy Walker and tucked the winning goal under Batty. Thirty seconds later referee Vosper put the sun drenched crowd out their misery by calling time.
Report by Dave Tavener |
