Excitement was in short supply at Clarence Park on Tuesday night but both St Albans City and Forest Green Rovers can take some pleasure from the dour goalless draw for differing reasons. For City boss Colin Lippiatt his sides five match losing run came to an end while the recently appointed Rovers manager Jim Harvey saw his team grind out a fifth successive match without defeat. But looking beyond those facts there was precious little else to savour for City's smallest attendance since March.
In fact, both teams will doubtless consider it a point gained at some cost with three players being replaced due to injury before half time. First to go was Rovers influential skipper Jamie Pitman - who previously played under Lippiatt at Woking - while City lost Gary Elphick with a recurrence of his hamstring injury and Ram Marwa, on a stretcher, with an ankle injury that was to be scanned at Hemel Hempstead hospital on Tuesday night. It is believed that the ankle is not broken but the midfielder still faces a couple of weeks on the sidelines.
With a short shower shortly before kick off making the surface speedy and slippery hopes were high for an exciting evening in conditions far from ideal for defending. As it was defenders won hands down with the Saints match sponsors electing the imposing Magnus Okuonghae as their man of the match. Okuonghae was part of a three-man defence that was switched to a four when Elphick's troublesome hamstring led to his departure on 25 minutes with Chris Seeby stepping in at right back.
Forest Green, making their first visit to the Park since the two sides clashed in the semi-final of the FA Trophy seven years ago, were first to threaten with joint leading scorer Simon Clist heading over from a Matt Robinson cross. After Rovers lost Pitman, City almost stole a goal when a long punt by Paul Bastock cleared the visitors' rearguard and keeper Steve Williams had to move swiftly from his line to clear for a throw as Paul Hakim closed in.
The match struggled to settle into a flowing pattern with the longest of many delays coming on 36 minutes while Marwa was attended to following what appeared to be a pretty innocuous challenge by Mark Beesley. From the delayed free kick Alexis Nicolas will probably be a touch disappointed that his curling effort from 20 yards was not a yard further to the left and inside Williams' goal.
With Hakim causing problems for the Gloucestershire visitors City finished the half strongly. Hakim set up Okuonghae for a low shot that was blocked while the debut making Nathan Simpson and Damian Batt combined to send Duane Jackman through but his clean strike went just over the Hatfield Road crossbar. Close to half time an excellent through ball by Seeby put Batt away but after getting to the edge of the box and cutting inside the former Barnet player's shot was blocked and bounced up to strike his hand with a handball decision then given against him. But it was Rovers who had the final say with a dangerous ball across the face of the home goal from Paul Stonehouse just evading his incoming team mates.
The second period got off to a bizarre start with a stunning flighted ball over the middle of the Forest Green defence skidding up off a defenders head and as Williams came from his goal Hakim palmed the ball over him. Now that sort of thing may be okay for national sides to do in the World Cup but the eagle-eyed officials in the Conference are not so lenient and Hakim duly collected his third booking of the season; not one of which has been for a foul.
Both sides could probably claim they had the better of the rest of the half but for twenty-five minutes neither keeper had anything to contend with in the way of shots, both defences will take most of the credit for that but there was a distinct lack of creativity in midfield from either XI. Rovers, though, should have gone ahead on 71 minutes when Michael Brough found Allan Russell on the edge of the box but the chance was lost when the striker shot low but straight at Bastock who smothered the ball after blocking the initial effort.
Two minutes later Simpson did well to beat his man and lay the ball inside to Clarke who cut inside only to have his shot blocked by Darren Jones, the ball then flew up and struck Jones on the arm but this time referee Darren Sheldrake turned a blind eye, difficult to see how that differed from the first half incident which was penalised.
Tom Davis was handed his sixth yellow card of the season for a foul on the lightning quick Les Afful, from which Clist beat the City wall with a low curling shot that Bastock stretched to his right to beat away but, somehow, got the ball to go back across him and the goal and amazingly just wide of his left hand post.
The Nailsworth club kept their good spell going with a volley over by Russell who then failed to seriously test Bastock with a soft shot on the turn. Five minutes from time, following a foul by Jones on Batt that earned the Rovers defender the fifth booking of the night, Nicolas struck a superb 35-yard free kick that Williams had to watch closely before flicking over the bar. Both sides pushed for an injury time winner that would ease their worries but it was Rovers who went closest with Robinson having a shot saved close to the foot of the post by the once again immaculate Bastock. |
