For Baldock Town the dream of national glory lives on but for the walking wounded of St Albans City the nightmare continues following Tuesday's dismal 2nd Qualifying Round Replay defeat in front of probably the smallest crowd ever for an FA Cup tie at Clarence Park.
New manager John Kendall had a tough enough task selecting a side to play in the first meeting three days earlier but that was nothing compared to the horror which confronted him at the Park as four more players added their names to the sick list taking the number of absentees to eleven. Such were his selection problems that just one of the five named substitutes was truly fit enough to play.
Against such a background City's failure to clear the first hurdle is understandable but the defeat by lower league opposition will do nothing to boost the sagging morale at Clarence Park. The only consolation for Kendall is that he has already seen most of his supporting cast in action but as the need for Ryman League points mounts he is still some way off from seeing his perceived first choice players on the pitch.
The match itself was a disappointment with the Saints displaying plenty of heart but clearly lacking in the quality needed to win games. The defence performed reasonably well but the midfield seldom got to grips with the Dr Martens Eastern League leaders whilst the City attack was toothless, throughout the entire 120 minutes it was clear that City's best hope of securing a trip to Ilkeston in the next Round would be through a penalty shoot-out.
That said, the Saints had two glorious opportunities to win the tie five minutes from the of normal and extra time. The first saw the unmarked Robbie Simpson, standing no more than six yards out, place a soft header into Adam Wheeler's arms following Mark Rooney's perfect cross whilst the second was to prove extremely costly when Junior Samuels failed to beat Wheeler in a one-on-one after Chris Piper's through ball had split the Baldock defence.
The opening exchanges were even with Ollie Squires, on his home debut, having a crisp effort blocked while young Lee Clark was forced into his first save for the Saints on 11 minutes when the on loan Stevenage striker Mark Bridge miscued as he latched onto Paul McCarthy's deflected shot. From early on it was difficult to see where a goal would come from but in the 29th minute City did make the breakthrough when Richard Evans' looping header from a David Pratt corner eluded Wheeler's raised hand and dropped into the York Road goal.
The Saints could have doubled their advantage five minutes from the interval when Wheeler elected not to come for a Piper free-kick and Pratt successfully stretched to reach the ball at the back post but failed to keep his shot down. The first half had been fairly even but Baldock took a grip the longer the game wore on and once they equalised in the 53rd minute City were struggling. That goal was certainly a soft one as City, from their own throw-in in front of the tea bar, lost possession and stood off as McCarthy ran into the penalty area and just managed to poke the ball past Clark after appearing to have overrun it.
Following the goal little was to be seen of City as an attacking force although Piper tested Wheeler from 20 yards and Simpson had his chance for glory but most of the action was centred on the home goal with Clark helping to take the tie into extra time when getting down well to deflect over the top McCarthy's low drive.
As the rain began to sweep down the extra 30 minutes saw Baldock continue to look the most likely winners but they had an almighty let off when veteran striker Samuels squandered the clearest opening of the night. Two minutes later, the 117th, City's dream was over as Darren Fenton launched a long free-kick into the City penalty area where Christian Hyslop helped the ball on for Bridge to stab home his sixth goal in as many games for the Saints county rivals. |
