The end of an era - Colin Lippiatt gets a hug from Bazza
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A wonderful adventure that started, quite by default really, back in November 2004 with Colin Lippiatt appointed assistant manager to Stuart Cash, came to a close on Saturday with a victory over Weymouth that brought to an end the Saints poorest run of results for more than three decades. Ironically, the opposition for the final match of the previous era that paved the way for Colin stepping into the City hot-seat was also Weymouth whose 3-0 win at Clarence Park prompted Cash to beat a hasty retreat.
But, not only was Saturday's match the concluding episode in Colin Lippiatt's time with the Saints, it would be fair to assume this game also marked the end of the road for a number of players wearing the blue and yellow. Maybe it was not quite the feast of football they would like to have signed off with but after three months without victory a win in any fashion would be warmly received. That it was against a side that has caused St Albans City more than a few raised eyebrows over the past two years made it all the sweeter but in the context of a relegation campaign it was nothing more than a Pyrrhic victory.
City showed just one change from the previous weekends defeat at Gravesend & Northfleet with Ben Martin coming into the heart of the defence while Djoumin Sangare, having scored when pushed forward for the second half of that match, retained his place alongside Lee Clarke and again looked a natural in attack as he replaced the injured Leon Archer.
Bright sunshine gave the occasion the feel of Weymouth beach rather than Clarence Park and a couple of beach balls that kept straying onto the pitch, particularly during the second half, added to the seaside flavour. Sadly the football, despite no lack of effort, was not quite of the sunshine variety. Both defences can be pleased with their effectiveness but their success did lead to a match of limited goalscoring opportunities.
Weymouth, did threaten an early breakthrough when Anton Robinson chased a long ball only for Paul Bastock to add to British Rails collection of footballs as he raced from his penalty area to hoof the ball over the stand.
Ten minutes later, the 12th, a partially cleared James Coutts free kick was headed back into the box by Trevor Challis for the free Stuart Beavon to latch onto only for Bastock to easily gather his attempted looping header. The Terras's early promise was almost rewarded with a goal when Beavon forced the ball home but not before Coutts cut back had rolled over the goalline for a goalkick.
Attacking the York Road goal, City played the ball around quite nicely at times but there was no cutting edge as Challis, and more especially City old boy Ashley Vickers, snuffed out virtually every City move when the goal came into sight. In fact, St Albans first two efforts of note were long-range efforts from Matt Hann and Chris Seeby that kept the City fans behind Jason Matthews goal busy but the Albanians should have taken the lead on 23 minutes.
Bastock drove a kick to just inside the Weymouth half that Ahmed Deen collected in front of the main stand and played towards the edge of the box where Sangare battled for possession before managing to return it out to Deen. The 21-year-old, who has made such a good impression during his 15 games for the Saints, whipped a perfect cross over to Clarke who perhaps ought to have notched his tenth league goal of the season but instead saw his downward header rise up and over the Weymouth goal with Matthews nothing more than a bystander.
Both sides failed to test the opposition keeper when trying a couple more efforts from distance, Simon Weatherstone being off target for the visitors and Scott Cousins for the hosts. Clearly Vickers was keen to mark his return to the ground here he played 92 times with a goal but just as he prepared to swoop following a free kick Ram Marwa nipped in to hook the ball out for a corner. But Vickers looked to have finally achieved his goal, in both senses of the word, when he clipped the ball wide of Bastock and into the goal after the second of two attempts by Weatherstone to strike for goal had arrowed towards the Terras defender. Vickers celebrations, however, subsided even before his first teammate had been able to grab him due to a raised linesman's flag.
On 37 minutes the City goal had another anxious moment when Beavon chased Martin into the penalty area and managed to poke the giant defenders back pass past the advancing Bastock, fortunately the keeper did enough to deny the Weymouth forward a clear stab at goal and by the time he had nudged the ball goalwards Martin was able to recover and clear from virtually on the goalline.
City enjoyed a couple of promising moments late in the half, Gary Elphick's header from a Cousins free kick may not have overly concerned Matthews but the Terras keeper was scrambling cross his goal as a smart snap shot from Marwa flew just wide of the keepers left hand upright. The 4th official indicated an extra two minutes of added time which was a touch mean given that there had been two stoppages, each of two minutes, as players took drinks while the respective physio's dealt with injuries to Robinson and Hann.
Neither side made changes during the interval but Colin Lippiatt, as he has done on so many occasions during his reign, was out of the dressing room a good five minutes before the end of the break to chat with spectators milling around the tunnel area. Last season it was a sign that all was well in the dressing room and perhaps on this special day it was an indication that an upturn in our fortunes was moments away.
Goal chances continued to be scarce after the interval and that Weymouth could make few inroads is something that the City defence can be especially pleased about given that a clean sheet had not been seen in a home match since the first Tuesday in October. On two occasions when Weymouth looked to have found a way through Martin did well to shepherd the ball to safety while Elphick did an excellent job in nullifying the threat posed by Raphael Nade.
St Albans took until the 57th minute to not only have their first on target effort of the half but also their first of the game when Dean Cracknell, afforded acres of space from a Scott Cousins throw, turned and from 25 yards struck a powerful shot that Matthews elected to two-fist away rather than attempt to catch.
From a long Bastock goalkick, Clarke got away down the City left and after evading a couple of challenges whipped over a decent cross that beat Marwa at the near post but was on course to be put away by Sangare only for Vickers to stretch to clip the ball out for a corner.
Cousins' excellent inswinging left-footed corner brushed the head of Challis as it flew across the face of the Weymouth goal and out for another corner by the cricket pavilion side of the ground. This time there was no escape for the visitors as Matthews misjudged the flight of Hann's right-footed cross and meekly touched the ball onto the underside of the crossbar for Sangare to poke the ricochet home from almost inside the Hatfield Road goal. Sangare's two goals in just one and a half matches as a makeshift striker vindicate Lippiatt's intriguing decision to move him forward but also praise should be heaped upon Sangare for the manner in which he taken to his new role. In many ways he looks an old fashioned centre forward, he wins the ball in the air, he shields it surprisingly well, brings other players into the action and is not afraid to shoot - not bad for a decent central defender. Sadly Sangare will not be able to demonstrate his talents at either end of the pitch at Clarence Park next season as this match marked the end of his long-term loan from Grays Athletic.
Just after the hour referee John Linnington suffered some damage to his left foot and had to be replaced by his senior linesman with the fourth official taking the line. With an ice pack wrapped around his foot referee (lapsed) Linnington was reduced to holding up the numbers for the substitutions.
Returning to the action, Bastock, playing his 125th game for the club, closed in on his 37th clean sheet when rising well to hold onto a dangerous cross as both Elphick and Nade bundled into the veteran keeper. But the Lincolnshire Legends finest moment came on 73 minutes. Coutts crossed from the Weymouth left, Beavon cleverly ducked under the ball leaving the unmarked Nade free at the back post, even allowing for the fact that Nade's shot lacked power it was still a fantastic save as Bastock clawed away the strikers point blank effort for nothing more dangerous than a corner.
Little else of note occurred on the pitch for the next 15 minutes or so but a flurry of late substitutions caused a stir as City no longer seem to be in possession of their hand held electronic board and the limping fourth official had to make do with the old single numbered boards. Given the anticipated fall in income next season with lower gates in the Blue Square Southern (Conference South) one does wonder if the electronic board has already gone onto ebay.
The game came alive again during five minutes and 24 seconds of added time with Deen surging forward and slipping a good ball to Clarke whose attempted chip over the advancing Matthews was smartly taken by the keeper. At the opposite end Weatherstone, after exchanging passes with player manager Jason Tindall, struck a crisp drive from outside the penalty area that flicked the side netting as it went just wide of Bastock's goal.
And with that escape City's run of 15 winless matches was over. The run started with a 2-2 draw at home to Crawley Town, the visitors equalising in the dying seconds, prior to that a 3-2 victory over Halifax Town lifted to City to 16th in the table - we looked to be heading for a second season in the Conference National but it was not to be.
At the final whistle Colin Lippiatt went on not quite a lap of honour but visited most corners of the ground and was given a terrific send off by those supporters still in the old stadium. It was a fitting finale at the end of a reign lasting 29 months that saw the Saints sample highs and lows that many of us thought we would never experience at Clarence Park. |
