BOGNOR REGIS Town put a dampener on any celebrations St Albans City may have lined up to commemorate the final match of their first 100 years with the Rocks snatching a dramatic 1-0 victory at Nyewood Lane as Seb Wallis-Tayler’s strike in the fifth minute of added time pushed the Saints firmly back into the fascinating relegation dogfight at the foot of Blue Square South.
Following a string of highly impressive performances in recent weeks City were timid down on the south coast and while Bognor themselves may have done little to justify victory the Saints manager Steve Castle did not complain about the outcome.
The defeat sees City slide two places to just one above the relegation zone with three games to go. A gripping finale is unfolding in the battle to avoid the drop and if City are to not waste the gains made during their unbeaten seven match run then they need to start scoring again pretty sharpish after firing blanks for the second successive weekend.
In addition to the shattering blow of crashing to defeat due to a late goal, the Saints also suffered two potentially damaging injuries. Jonathan Hunt lasted just 18 minutes before a tender heel ended his participation while just minutes before the start of more than six minutes of added time the Saints lost defender Ben Martin with a hamstring injury.
Both players join Hassan Sulaiman as doubtful to play a part in the Saints final three matches and just for good measure Paul Bruce will be absent on the final day of the season after collecting his 15th booking of the campaign.
Attacking the Nyewood Lane end of the ground in the first half City kicked off with a gusty wind behind them and rain sweeping towards the home goal. Within seconds the rain was replaced by a hailstorm but fortunately that soon cleared and this corner of Sussex was bathed in sunshine for most of the afternoon.
Sadly the football did not match the bright, though chilly, conditions. Most of the goalmouth activity occurred during the opening 30 minutes but neither attack looked particularly penetrating. Certainly City’s front pairing of Paul Hakim and Akanni-Sunday Wasiu struggled to form any kind of understanding and despite the Saints having more on target shots than their hosts they seldom troubled a Rocks defence well marshalled by Duncan Jupp.
Several times Bognor flashed dangerous crosses low in front of the visitors goal, the first such effort coming inside five minutes through the industrious Mark Knee but with no strikers on hand the opening was wasted.
Akanni-Sunday Wasiu almost put Lee Clarke through but Rocks skipper Chris Breach tracked back well and knocked the ball away for a throw. St Albans’ defence looked less assured than in recent matches and good approach work by Knee and Dan Beck worked an opening down the Bognor right with a short pass inside to Scott Chamberlain ending with his shot zipping just wide of Paul Bastock’s right hand post.
On 14 minutes Sunday won a free kick just outside the home penalty area and although Hunt struck his effort cleanly it went straight through to keeper Craig Stoner who caught the ball with little fuss. Two minutes later Clarke dispossessed Breach and played the ball up to Hakim. After surging towards the penalty area Hakim laid the ball inside to the free Sunday who dithered before belatedly shooting left-footed to Stoner’s left but again the keeper saved smartly.
On 18 minutes Hunt admitted defeat with a troublesome heel that had been playing up prior to kick off. Hunt’s premature exit allowed 19-year old Hamza Twomey to have another extended run but with City failing to find any rhythm the teenager made little impact and had one of his quieter days.
Stoner had to be alert to deal with a fierce 30-yard cross-shot by James Fisher that dipped under the bar but was acrobatically punched over the top by the back-peddling keeper. Although that effort came close to producing a goal in a way it typified City’s crossing that on the whole was poor and wayward.
Stoner was back in action seconds later as Bastock, receiving a back pass from the under pressure Scott Cousins, hoofed a long clearance towards the edge of the Rocks penalty area that the keeper just reached and hoiked to safety as Hakim closed in.
A promising Bognor attack came to nothing when space was created for Chamberlain but the midfielder’s shot went harmlessly wide. Wes Fogden, currently on loan to Bognor from Brighton, set up a City attack with a wild back pass that sent Hakim clear down the Saints left. Stoner parried Hakim’s shot with Sunday picking up the pieces but squandering a golden opportunity with a loose ball inside that was cleared easily.
Just after the half hour a near post cross from Phil Warner was stabbed wide by Knee while in the closing minutes of the half Bognor twice opened up the right side of the City defence but on both occasions outswinging crosses from Wallis-Tayler and Alex Haddow eluded inrushing Bognor strikers.
City’s large contingent of supporters were hopeful of better times after the break but as the game wore on St Albans attacking threat grew increasingly lame with Castle attempting to shake things up midway through the half with the Simon Martin replacing Sunday.
Just after the hour Cousins and Hakim combined down the left to work the ball inside to Clarke but the reinstated Saints captain, who himself had a decent game, shot off target.
To their credit, Bognor brushed aside their recent poor form of one win in six matches and three successive defeats, to put the Saints under spells of relatively intense pressure while City almost added to their own mounting problems in the 72nd minute.
Quilter, who again did well alongside Martin, miscued a clearance that rolled out of the penalty area and was heading for a corner when Bastock gave chase. Although there appeared little hope of the keeper getting his hands to the ball inside the box Bastock slid along the ground and was adjudged to have handled before it rolled over the goalline.
Referee Justin Comley, in keeping with a reasonable display by the Windsor official, decided that a goalscoring opportunity had not been denied and showed the City keeper just a yellow card. From Chamberlain’s free kick Ben Martin headed the ball back out to the Bognor player whose cross this time was headed wide by Breach.
City hit back through Simon Martin, finding space behind the Bognor defence following Quilter’s lofted pass, only for his ball across the home goal to suffer the same fate of similar Bognor efforts. The game came alive again six minutes from the end of the 90 minutes when Chamberlain’s free kick was glanced on by Saheed Sankoh and almost turned in by the offside Knee.
A minute from time Ben Martin and David Ray gave chase to a ball down the Bognor right with the City defender falling to the ground in a crumpled heap as for the second successive match the Saints lost a player to a sudden hamstring injury. As physio Jason Laird helped the giant defender from the pitch substitute Reiss Noel got his first taste of Blue Square South football in almost five months.
Chamberlain went close with a free kick for Bognor before a swift St Albans break saw Cousins and Bruce free Simon Martin down the City left, Hakim looked to pounce at the near post but was well shackled by Jupp with referee Comely ignoring penalty appeals as the City striker nursed a sore ankle.
With the game approaching four minutes and thirty seconds off added time Bognor made the decisive breakthrough that could yet prove to be achieve Blue Square salvation for the Rocks and the Saints downfall. City struggled to clear the ball following a spell of Bognor pressure and the warning bells were ringing as Jupp hit a sweetly executed cushioned volleyed pass out to Beck on the right flank.
Beck’s deep cross evaded City’s backline and was met by Knee whose drive thudded into Bastock’s left hand upright and before the Saints could react left-back Wallis-Tayler rammed home the rebound for his second goal in consecutive matches. That goal clinched Bognor’s third successive win over St Albans at Nyewood Lane and, more crucially, lifts Michael Birmingham’s side above City with just three games to play. City’s final match of their first 100 years – the club is 100 years old on Sunday 13th April – could yet prove to be one of the most costly of the 3,002 league matches played by Saints so far.
Report by David Tavener |
