Saints Celebrate!
|
St Albans City will walk amongst non-league footballs elite next season after goals from top scorer Lee Clarke and Paul Hakim saw off Histon for the third time in four months in Sunday’s gritty Conference South promotion play-off at Stevenage.
That the game was not a classic will matter not a jot at Clarence Park as City’s fantastic season under the shrewd leadership of manager Colin Lippiatt and coach Nick Roddis reaped its just desserts in front of 3.175 spectators at Broadhall Way. Having finished their 42-match league programme eight points clear of third placed Farnborough Town and 15 clear of play-off finalists Histon the Saints can rightly claim that justice was done.
Both sides went into the game with well-kept injury problems, Histon lost keeper Lance Keys whilst the Saints were without Ben Lewis who badly gashed a leg in a motorcycle accident and was replaced by the excellent Patrick Ada. City also brought back Ben Walshe for Amos Foyewa.
Histon, boosted a run of five successive wins, went at City strongly from the off and it was completely against the run off the play when the Saints went ahead on seven minutes. Tom Davis created space for left-back Chris Seeby to move forward with a clever ball between two players. Former City Youth player Seeby sent a dangerous low diagonal ball towards the back post that evaded Ram Marwa but was met by Clarke whose shot was fumbled over the line by the sprawling Martin Davies.
Clarke’s 26th goal of the season should have been added to by Paul Hakim on 12 minutes when Seeby’s long punt was miscued by Histon’s Matthew Mitchell-King. Reaching the edge of the penalty area Hakim shot to Davies right but the keeper managed to divert it for a corner.
It was to be a long time again before City were to enjoy such attacking dominance where as Histon, seeing a fair amount of the ball during the half, could make little headway against a Saints defence in which Ada was the outstanding performer.
Histon certainly had their moments in a generally low-key opening 45 minutes during which Adrian Cambridge’s long throw-ins were a cause for concern. But the closest the Stutes came to an equaliser was when a Neil Kennedy header from a Cambridge free kick went beyond Paul Bastock but was headed off the line by Saints skipper Clarke.
Two other good chances from a long throw and free kick by Cambridge went begging before the half ended with Kennedy getting the better of Seeby only for his low cross to be swept to safety by Lee Flynn.
Attacking their own fans at the north end of the ground during the second period City closed in on promotion with a second goal nine minutes after the restart. Flynn, faced with a tricky bouncing ball, headed it forcefully upfield where Cambridge opted to let it pass through to his keeper. Davies, though, was left without a prayer as Hakim stepped in to collect the ball and advance before placing a careful shot to the keeper’s right for his 13th goal of the season.
Down they may have been but Histon rallied gallantly although their best chance, scooped over the bar from close in by Kennedy, came after Bastock appeared to be fouled when jumping for Cambridge throw. A spell of sustained pressure on 70 minutes saw Bastock demonstrate his alertness and agility to backtrack and tip over Ian Cambridge’s superbly placed chip from 22 yards. From the resulting corner the ball came to the back post to Jamie Barker whose goalbound effort was blocked by Marwa.
Having weathered that storm City were almost home and Histon’s hopes all but evaporated on 77 minutes when Roscoe Hipperson received a harsh second yellow card for an alleged trip on Hann. With Histon a man short and trying to push forward City suddenly created a string of golden opportunities.
The worst miss was by Hann who struck the upright from a good pass by Clarke while Foyewa launched the rebound out of the ground. A long kick from Bastock saw Foyewa beat, and flatten Steve Jackman, before setting up Dean Cracknell whose two attempts to score were charged down by Davies and with just seconds remaining Roddis, on as a substitute for the first time in four months, sent Hann away but from his pass Foyewa blasted way off target. |
