A blistering drive by Danny Hart and an inspired performance by goalkeeper Nick Jupp secured a potentially crucial Southern League point for St Albans City in a 1-1 draw at high-flying AFC Totton on Tuesday at the Testwood Stadium.
The draw was sufficient for Totton to reclaim second place in the Premier Division while City now stand just four points outside the play-off places and entertain fourth placed Oxford City at Clarence Park on Saturday.
St Albans now have the character, strength and quality required to sustain their push for a top five finish and the point has never been better made this season than with the battling draw in deepest Hampshire.
City could have snatched victory from a number of decent second half chances that came their way but, on the whole, defeat was avoided courtesy of Jupp’s brilliance and a defensive display in which the injured James Gray and Cedric Ngakam were simply outstanding.
Totton have built a good reputation as one of the best footballing sides in the Southern League and the early signs were not promising for City as the Stags whipped in three good crosses inside the opening ten minutes, any of which could so easily have produced a goal.
But it took the home side almost a quarter of the game to penetrate the City defence and test Jupp, and the City keeper was more than up to the task as he dived full length to his right to push away Lewis Stockford’s powerful drive.
Totton were clearly frustrated at not having things all their own way and surprisingly opted to play a far higher number of long balls than was expected as they looked to get behind City’s dominant defence.
From one such punt, launched by Nathan Campbell, Mark Osman raced clear of the stumbling Gray only to have the ball taken from his feet by one of many excellent tackles by Ngakam.
St Albans had offered little as an attacking entity prior to the interval but any hopes of getting to the break on level terms were shattered on 44 minutes.
Much to the annoyance of his manager, Ngakam conceded a free kick just outside the penalty area. The gifted Michael Gosney arrowed his left-footed dead ball kick just inside the base of Jupp’s left hand upright.
The City keeper did well to push the ball wide of the goal but was helpless as Osman drove the loose ball back into the goalmouth where it bounced up off Danny McGonigle’s right foot and onto his forearm.
Referee Jim Peterson was not convinced that the City player had handled but linesman Barry Small was in no doubt and after a brief consultation a penalty was awarded.
Gosney duly sent Jupp the wrong way to open the scoring with his 14th league goal of the season.
The goal came at a time when tempers were becoming frayed with the boorish antics in the home dug-out doing little to quell the rising hysteria.
Fortunately half time took the sting out of the situation and Totton were further subdued just seconds after the restart when City claimed a quite brilliant equaliser.
Simon Martin sent Chris Henry scampering down the left and when reaching the goalline Henry cut a precise pass into the path of Hart who cracked a stunning drive back across the diving Bittner for his fourth goal of the season.
Five minutes later and Ryan Moss squandered a golden opportunity in front of goal, after being teed up by Charlie Knight and Stockford, when miscuing the ball and allowing Jupp to dive forward to collect.
The Stags played a better passing game than seen during the opening 45 minutes but it was from a swift break that Osman found space behind the City defence only to hammer his shot a yard or so over the top.
Mounting Stags pressure called for resilient work by the City backline and Gray and Ryan Watts provided it with fully committed blocks on Campbell and Stockford when a goal beckoned.
Substitute Jonathan Davies, later booked for diving, clipped a good low cross into the penalty area that captain Carl Pettefer looked set to capitalise on before Watts outstretched leg diverted the ball away.
Gosney sought to restore Totton’s advantage with a gloriously struck 30-yard free kick only for the diving Jupp to majestically flick over the bar.
City were not without chances themselves and when a Simon Martin cross was only partially cleared Micah Hyde tried his luck with a half volley that was blocked by team-mate Sakho Bakare who then twisted quickly and shot mere inches wide of Bittner’s right hand post.
A good chance also went begging when Hart was just unable to make a firm connection after a long free kick by Jupp had been flicked on.
St Albans had a remarkable let off when a flowing Totton attack ended with Gosney driving the ball across the penalty area with Nathan Sherborne looking to have scored only for the ball to deflect off Gray and then be instinctively pushed over by Jupp with a breathtaking save.
Another frantic goalmouth melee was not far away and luck did appear to be on City’s side this time when Jupp spectacularly pushed yet another Gosney free kick onto the crossbar before Martin possibly used an arm to charge down an overhead kick by Osman.
The threat remained until Gray hammered the ball downfield. Ross Bottomley, for once, failed to snuff out City’s counter-attack and his slip let Bakare in but, from a tight angle, the Frenchman shot tamely through to the grateful keeper. |
