24.03.2007 at 15:00 Clarence Park
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Attendance : 821
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St Albans City
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1 - 1
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Kidderminster Harriers
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Referee : John Hopkins (Wickford)
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Nationwide Conference
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None. |
James Constable (40), Stuart Whitehead (49, 82) |
Kidderminster goalkeeper Stephen Taylor hangs his head in shame as Leon Archer heads for his fifth goal for the Saints
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Mathematically St Albans City's fight to stay in the Nationwide Conference continues but an inability to claim a first win in eight matches against a nine-man Kidderminster Harriers side on Saturday was unquestionably a savage blow to the Saints survival hopes. City were even gifted the most comical of goals to open the scoring but a failure to see off a Harriers side of fast diminishing numbers, in front of our third lowest home gate of the season, led to an air of resignation around the Victorian Park come the final whistle.
But all is not lost just yet - far from it in fact, although the run of eight matches winless must, surely, not be extended with next weeks visit to Aldershot Town if the Saints are to avoid an immediate return to Conference South.
Colin Lippiatt has repeatedly stated that the club needs to have a squad of at least 18 fit players if it is to compete at this level, if one were to include the players currently out gaining full fitness with Wealdstone and Harrow Borough then that figure is comfortably reached at the present time. Possibly more important though is the need for a settled starting XI and after encouraging performances against Dagenham & Redbridge and York City, Lippiatt was looking to field an unchanged side for the third successive game for Kidderminster's first visit to Clarence Park for a league match on Saturday (the two sides having previously met at the Park in the FA Trophy in monsoon-like conditions in January 1995).
But the manager's plan was shot to pieces on Friday afternoon when a phone call from Exeter City ended Patrick Ada's loan spell at Clarence Park due to injury problems for the Grecians. Ada's absence led to Chris Seeby switching to right back, Ahmed Deen dropping into the left back position, Malik Buari moving from the right of midfield to the left and Matt Hann being recalled to the right side of the midfield, simple really.
Not wishing to be outdone, Harriers boss Mark Yates gave debuts to three players signed just prior to Thursday's deadline; Glenn Wilson (Rushden & Diamonds), Andy Farrell (Hereford United) and Jon Brady from Cambridge United. Of that trio it was Ferrell who created the most positive impression as he won a series of midfield battles.
For a number of weeks City have been seeking to attack down the slope towards the Hatfield Road goal in the second half, on Saturday they finally got their wish. Kidderminster, desperate to avoid being the only side so far to have a Conference double completed over them by the Saints, and also seeking to creep into the play offs to go with an appearance at Wembley in the forthcoming final of the FA Trophy, were going to be far from kind of midtable fodder City hope to face in the search for much needed points. The game, however, was far from a classic but will be talked about for some time to come due to Kiddy going down to nine men for the final ten minutes.
Maybe an indication of the level of entertainment that was to follow came in the opening minutes when Buari won a free kick that Tom Davis took quickly but only succeeded in smacking into the side of his team mates head as the Ghanaian was still on the ground - it did get better, just. Kidderminster mounted the first worthwhile attack of a surprisingly cold and wet afternoon when James Constable latched onto Djoumin Sangare's headed clearance and played the ball out to Brady whose cross was headed onto the City crossbar by Iyseden Christie with Paul Bastock well beaten, St Albans were happy to hook the loose ball out for the first corner of the match. From the dead ball, swung in by Jon Harkness, Christie had a goal disallowed for a foul on the City keeper.
Although clear chances were limited both attacks looked lively early on, particularly on the counter attack. A swift move by City saw Hann sweep the ball in low from the right to the centre of the edge of the visitors penalty area where Wilson, under heavy pressure from Leon Archer and John Hastings, showed tremendous composure before passing his way out of danger. A spell of Kidderminster pressure ended with Brady crossing to Christie for a second time, on this occasion the Harriers leading marksman glanced his header wide.
City hit back powerfully with Sangare chesting the ball down and knocking it wide to Hann who guided a good ball into Hastings only for Wilson to put in a perfectly timed challenge and clear. Moments later, in the 19th minute, there appeared little threat to the visitors' goal as Davis's diagonal through ball appeared too long for Archer and keeper Stephen Taylor came out to collect. Quite what went through Taylor's head is anyone's guess but it went as quickly as the ball through his hands and as he stumbled around like a giraffe on ice Archer strolled forward to collect the seemingly slippery sphere and walk it into the York Road goal. Not many opposition players have aided City's cause this season so a burst of ‘Taylor we love you' from the home terrace was heartfelt. For Archer it was his fifth goal in just 11 games for the Saints but was the highpoint in an otherwise anonymous performance.
City almost built on that gift a minute later when Sangare headed a Hann free kick into the goalmouth where Hastings miscued and lost a good opportunity to open his account with the Saints. Gradually Kidderminster put that setback behind them and started creating a good number of chances although the nearest they came to an equaliser during this time was a shot into the side netting by Christie, while at the opposite end an excellent header by the impressive Steve Creighton stopped a Hann cross from reaching Hastings.
On the balance of play it was of no great surprise when Kidderminster drew level on 34 minutes, but once again it was a case of City pressing the self-destruct button. Seeby sought to launch an attack but saw his pass to Hastings intercepted on the halfway line by Russell Penn who then made light of stiff challenges from Davis and the excellent Guy Lopez, before sliding a perfect ball through the heart of the Saints defence for Constable, from 18 yards, to stroke home, to Bastock's left, his sixth goal in 17 Conference appearances.
Six minutes Constable won a throw down the Harriers right and took up his position just inside the City penalty area. As he waited for the ball to come in he found Buari, bizarrely, standing in front of him looking at him with his back to the ball. Twice the City midfielder clearly impeded the Harriers striker and when the ball came in Constable appeared to lash out with an elbow and almost before Buari hit the ground referee John Hopkins - surely one of the most fussy in the league - had his red card in his hand and Constable was on his way. A few expletives and one slammed dressing room door later and the Harriers were down to ten men.
Losing a striker meant that Yates had to make no serious alterations to his side and despite being pushed back for long stretches after the break the visitors seldom looked like conceding a second goal. But Kiddy's problems did increase on 49 minutes when Stuart Whitehead clipped Hastings ankle as the striker soared down the City left in front of the covered terrace, a yellow card left the defender on dodgy ground.
City almost notched a second freak goal when Hann, after having one effort charged down, crossed low into the box. Creighton left the ball for a startled Taylor who was further shaken as the ball took a wicked bounce and reared up and across the face of the goal before drifting beyond the back post.
The match took another almost surreal turn on 54 minutes when Hann, having just ventured back onto the pitch after receiving treatment, took a short pass from Archer only to be instantly booked having rejoined the fun without Mr Hopkins permission. Bizarre as it was, Hopkins, as with the two Kidderminster dismissals, made the correct decision and Hann was more than a tad fortunate to stay on the pitch later in the half as he bombarded the linesmen with a volley of vitriol. Getting back to Hopkins, whilst his use of the cards was contentious he was probably correct each time, it was the minor decisions that found him wanting as he awarded a succession of free kicks - to both sides - for the most minor or imagined offences. Allowing the game to flow was not the order of the day.
Returning to the football, a rare flowing move saw Sangare and Seeby quickly work the ball up to Hann, from his low cross Hastings tried a first time ground shot that Taylor took in comfort. Whitehead must have feared the worst when he caught Hastings as the on loan MK Dons player raced after Bastock's long punt but this time the man in black clearly felt there was no intent. Whitehead was back in the thick of the action on 66 minutes when, under pressure from Hastings, he was forced to hand St Albans their first corner of the match - still, at least it was 22 minutes earlier than our first one at York the previous weekend. It was the first of four City corners but not one came close to causing the visitors any problems as the Saints difficulties with set pieces continued.
Hann did manage to retrieve one failed corner from the left but after bursting into the box fired well over Taylor's goal. A minute later Hann cut in from the right following an exquisite through ball by Lopez, this time Hann kept his shot down but the ball went harmlessly into the side netting. That was to be the final piece of the action for Lopez who, particularly during the first half, had won a lot of tackles and again demonstrated that he is the kind of midfield player City have lacked all season.
The second half may sound better in print than it looked on grass for it was a scrappy, untidy affair, a combined total of the two sides of half a dozen on target efforts over the entire 90 minutes gives an indication of how both attacks struggled. Mr Hopkins sought to increase the goalmouth activity when awarding Kidderminster a corner after the excellent Gary Elphick clearly got the ball out of play off Christie. From Jon Harness's cross Creighton looked to have scored with a far post header only for Bastock to acrobatically claw the ball away high to his left for another corner.
City repelled the second corner with Deen lashing the ball downfield. Hann gave chase and, despite appearing to be clipped again by Whitehead, stayed on his feet only to then be fouled by Creighton. The referee, having firstly played the advantage, called play back and showed Whitehead a second yellow card to send the Harriers depleted ranks down to nine. In a desperate attempt to snatch a dramatic and vital victory City shoved Elphick forward for a few minutes before sending on Lee Clarke in place of Seeby.
Two minutes into added time, of which there were four minutes - played in increasing gloomy conditions, well it is spring so need for floodlights - City almost got their wish as Hastings crossed from out wide and as Creighton headed clear Deen whipped it straight back in. Clarke challenged for the header before the ball fell to Hann whose first effort looked to be an air shot while the second took a deflection and went wide of the target. Kidderminster's nine men had survived. |
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