St Albans City recovered from a midweek drubbing at Cambridge City to chalk up a gritty 1-0 Southern League Premier Division victory at Leicestershire side Barwell on Saturday courtesy of an opportunist goal by midfielder Solomon Shields.
In a match that struggled to flow City showed commendable spirit and with Rob Haworth leading the line with confidence David Howell’s side always looked capable of collecting all three points.
That said, Barwell had more than enough chances to clinch their second win of the season only for wayward finishing to prove costly.
City made three changes from the trip to Cambridge. Paul Furlong was called up for his first starting appearance when replacing Brian Haule alongside Haworth, while injured wide players Jerome Walker and Sean Shields stood down in favour of Danny Hart and Craig Davies.
Barwell began confidently with Jamie Towers, down the right flank, causing City numerous problems but the one-time Kettering Town player was also guilty of squandering several good chances.
Towers showed his menace early on when setting up captain Scott Hadland for a shot that was sliced well wide.
The home side had an anxious moment when keeper Liam Castle, bedecked in a ludicrous Day-Glo all orange kit, spilled a Ryan Moran free kick under pressure from Haworth. Fortunately for the keeper the ball was hacked to safety.
Midway through the half Towers cut in from the flank and had a shot charged down by Matt Cutchey before drilling the rebound against the outside of keeper Kyle Merson’s left hand upright.
Barwell’s most glaring miss came on 27 minutes when a loose pass by City right back Matt Pooley allowed Lewis Dodd to hammer a low curling ball deep into the City half. Cutchey and Moran were caught out by the curl on the ball that was seized upon by Luke Barlone.
But with time aplenty Barlone, the scorer of two goals during a midweek win over Banbury United, shot needlessly early and weakly wide of the target.
City’s first on target effort came on 36 minutes but Castle had no difficulty in smothering Haworth’s tame shot.
Haworth was far more impressive a minute later as he tested Castle with a flying header following an excellent quick turn, run and cross by the debut making Hart.
The home side responded with Barlone looping a header just over the bar and Nigel Julien weaved his way along the edge of the penalty area before slashing his shot towards the nearby Bowls Club.
Young Merson, currently on loan from Staines Town, moved closer to ensuring his first clean sheet of the season when making a point blank block from Kevin Charley following a Scott Rickards knock down, and then the keeper cleanly held Towers glancing header.
Barrie Matthews picked up City’s first booking of the season early in the second half when taking Towers out and on 56 minutes Howell made his first change with Davies making way for Joakim Ehui. One minute later City made the decisive breakthrough.
Hadland was harshly penalised for handball, referee Edward Smart’s view was clearly obscured as the Barwell player had his back to the match official yet still he awarded City the free kick.
Hart’s dead ball kick bounced seemingly gently in front of Castle only for the keeper to carelessly fumble the ball. Furlong nipped in swiftly with his miscued shot rebounding off the diving Castle to Solomon Shields who cleverly scooped his shot towards the far top corner of the net for his second goal of the season.
The kick off was delayed by prolonged treatment to Barwell defender Mason Rowley who suffered an injured shoulder during the goalmouth scramble, during the delay City sent on Frenchman Sakho Bakare for Furlong.
For a while City looked set to take complete control but had a let off when Towers raced clear to latch onto a long ball but when confronted by Merson the Barwell midfielder shot wide.
The pressure mounted with Towers heading across goal and just wide from a Hadland cross while a cross by Rickards led to Barlone’s shot striking team-mate Towers and deflecting softly into Merson’s grateful arms. Rowley also headed wide from a Rickards corner.
St Albans lost a good chance to sew the game up when a low Bakare cross from the left was helped on by Ehui to fellow substitute Marvin Alebiosu who was denied by the sprawling Castle.
City were certainly made to wait for the final whistle as eight minutes of added time were played.
In the first minute extra minute Towers headed on a goalkick from Castle and charged away to regain possession only to scuff his shot across the City goal.
Five minutes later Cutchey fell to the ground in a crumpled head after blocking a powerful Towers shot with his stomach, Towers then fired the loose ball high over the goal. |
