Taking charge of a struggling side for the first time is hard enough for any new manager, but for the recently appointed St Albans City boss John Kendall there was the added distraction of six first teamers absent through injury, two others unavailable, and the prospect of an embarrassing FA Cup defeat by lower league opposition to contend with as he cast his eye over his new charges for the first time at Norton Road on Saturday.
Fortunately for the Saints though, Baldock Town failed to live up to their prematch billing of being a vastly improved side from the one which City defeated so easily in last season's Herts Senior Cup final. Baldock went into the game on the back of an eight match unbeaten run and five straight wins whilst the Saints were winless in four games and defeated the previous three yet a share of the spoils was a just outcome at the end of a scrappy and disappointingly unpassionate 2nd Qualifying Round FA Cup tie, the first between the two county rivals.
Although City are, technically, a league above their hosts there can be no denying that the Saints were the happier of the two sides with the draw but there was certainly no belief that the hard part of the task had been completed as City collected a couple more knocks in a game of seven bookings.
The game kicked off in the face of a short but heavy downpour which seemed to have the effect of dampening the players enthusiasm as it was to be a full 20 minutes before the first serious goalmouth action took place with Baldock's Paul McCarthy sending a free header from a Rob Smith cross against Laurence Batty's right hand upright. Three minutes later Chris Piper clipped a free-kick beyond the back post to Joe Lyons who poked it agonisingly across the face of Adam Wheeler's goal.
Ten minutes from the interval former City trialist Gary Walker sent a spectacular volley narrowly wide but a half lacking in any decent quality ended with neither keeper seriously troubled.
After the interval Baldock created a greater number of chances but for a side that had scored 15 times in its previous five games they looked surprisingly weak against a new-look City defence which kept its first clean sheet for more than a month. Indeed it was City who almost went ahead on 55 minutes when Piper had a free-kick charged down, in the ensuing scramble he latched onto the ball wide of the goal and powered it through a crowded six yard box without anyone applying the killer touch.
Baldock claimed, somewhat optimistically, for a penalty on 62 minutes as Mark Bridge went down under Batty's challenge and the on-loan Stevenage striker picked up a booking by taking out his frustration with a bad tackle on James Campbell. City had a let off when the unmarked Steve Cook latched onto a Richard Preston cross but with just Batty to beat he scooped his shot over the bar.
A series of stoppages led to referee Hegley playing more than 11 minutes of injury time during which time a good exchange between Mark Rooney and David Pratt led to the latter sending over an inviting cross which, somehow, neither Samuels nor Stuart Maynard could turn in. But it was left to the impressive City defender Richard Goddard to ensure a replay when he put in a timely tackle to thwart the threatening Simon Dunlop.
Report by Dave Tavener |
