Clarence Park was awash with frustration and disappointment rather than desperation and dejection on Saturday after Burton Albion's first trip to the city ended with Nigel Clough's Brewers becoming the second visiting side in five days to leapfrog the Saints with a single goal success. Saturday's defeat, and that to Woking, bore similarities as City, each time, saw plenty of the possession but it is difficult to recall Albion keeper Kevin Poole being fully stretched.
At times during the first half City looked a touch flat but even then still played a good amount of precise passing football, but it was only after the break that the Saints really got on top. Even then the likelihood of a home goal was, sadly, a remote prospect.
Given the facilities Burton have at their disposal it was somewhat surprising to learn that they, like the Saints, are still a part-time outfit, something that makes the defeat all the more disappointing. A quick gaze at the Burton players, solid to a man, suggested that they are full time but, on this evidence, they are more functional and effective than flamboyant entertainers.
Colin Lippiatt had a few selection problems prior to the game with Simon Martin having not recovered sufficiently from his back injury to rejoin the squad while Nick Roddis was indisposed at a wedding. This led to rare seat on the bench for substitute goalkeeper Ricky Perks but the Saints were forced to leave one other seat unoccupied as injury also ruled out Scott Cousins, Gary Elphick, Ram Marwa and Ben Martin.
City opted for a 4-4-2 formation with Damian Batt returning at right back, which allowed Chris Seeby to continue his impressive run in midfield. Batt was one of the outstanding successes of the day; he has a fantastic touch and knows when to clear his lines and when to play it around. Tom Davis was also particularly good form early on and came more into the frame again late in the game. The City defence generally coped well with the Brewers attack although the goal that decided the points was a painfully soft one to concede.
Attacking the Hatfield Road goal during the first half on another warm late summers day City played some of their best football during the early exchanges, Burton looked equally switched on at this time and a lively afternoon appeared in prospect. St Albans first threatened on ten minutes with a fine move that saw Davis switch the play to Batt who slipped an excellent through ball for Seeby to strike early but was unfortunate to see Gary Rowett deflect the shot for a corner.
Three minutes later Burton secured the points when Seeby did well to block a crisp drive only for Darren Stride to knock the loose ball out to the Albion right to Rowett, from his cross Steve Scoffham glanced a gentle downward header to Paul Bastock's right and into the corner of the net despite Bazza getting a hand to the ball. Bastock confessed that he did wonder about coming for the cross and it did also appear that maybe Dave Theobald may have challenged the scorer who celebrated with a near perfect summersault.
City looked to be level on 21 minutes when a Matt Hann free kick, given for a foul by Stride on Davis, was smartly tucked inside Kevin Poole's left hand post by Seeby. But Seeby's first goal since February was ruled out by what appeared a pretty tight offside decision.
A solid tackle by Paul Hakim saw the ball squirm inside to Davis whose diagonal forward pass was chested down by Lee Clarke before the Saints skipper fired just over from 20 yards, and as City searched for an equaliser a Hann free kick fell between two of his team mates before bouncing out for a goal kick.
Burton finished the half very much in the ascendancy enjoying a better spell of possession and starting to attack City with some conviction. Bastock had to be alert to deal with a powerful drive from Danny Holmes and three minutes from the break Holmes sent a header over Bastock but onto the stanchion following a cross from the quite brilliant Aaron Webster. Another promising move was thwarted by firm tackles from Davis and the again impressive Magnus Okuonghae. During the interval Clough kept his players on the pitch with the reasoning, quite simply, being that it was too hot in the dressing room.
City's growing injury list welcomed its fifth member on 48 minutes when Hann went down following a challenge by Austin that earned the Brewers player the first yellow card of the afternoon. Hann's injury, though, was caused by his landing, as his shoulder popped out and in, a lay-off in the region of a couple of weeks looks distinctly likely. After a three-minute delay (not reflected in the time added on at the end of the game) Adam Wilde's low free kick caused a scramble in the visitors goalmouth but no City player could force it home.
As St Albans pushed on in search of an equaliser the chances of a second Burton goal actually increased as their counter-attacking tactics frequently found the Saints short of numbers at the back, one such break ended with an excellent block by Batt from Chris Hall. With Hann off, young Rob Norris was thrown into the fray and not for the first time made a good impression with his superb close skills mesmerising anyone attempting to shut him down.
On 74 minutes Norris played in Lee Flynn who cut into the box but had his run curtailed by the falling Rowett. Whilst grounded Rowett clearly handled but referee Steven Creighton adjudged it to be a case of ball hitting hand, the Brewers defender was a touch fortunate. City's failure to seriously trouble the opposition keeper for a second successive home match looked be over on 83 minutes when Davis's powerfully struck effort from 22 yards was heading high to Poole's right before being deflected wide by the head of Albion captain Stride.
After Norris curled a free kick a yard wide Burton twice seemed certain to get a second goal through Shaun Harrad, while his second effort saw Davis force the ball out for a corner - after Theobald had a shot charged down in the visitors penalty area - Harrad was booked for diving in the first incident as Theobald gave chase. The decision was not well received on the visitors' bench with Clough claiming his man to be one of the most honest in the game. |
