St Albans City’s dream of promotion back to Conference South via the Southern League play-offs all but died on Saturday when in a dramatic climax at Clarence Park visitors Weymouth struck twice in the final eight minutes to deny the Saints a crucial extra two points with a 2-2 draw.
Weymouth, if only for their impressive first half performance and resilience late in the day, merited a point but this is a match City should have put beyond all doubt during lengthy spells of sustained second half dominance.
But to lay the blame on the likelihood of missing out on promotion on this one game would be folly; the damage was caused by poor form prior to December while manager David Howell put together a side from scratch that could mount a challenge.
The omens look promising for next season but that is scant consolation for Howell who was clearly hurt at the final whistle as the dream evaporated.
Much the same could be said of Weymouth, certainly going forward they have a set of players that are creative and could impose themselves on many sides, with just a small number of additions they too can look forward to brighter days.
During the opening 45 minutes City were a pale imitation of the side that beat Stourbridge last time out and Weymouth should have capitalised on the Saints uncertainty inside the first minute.
Stephen Reed, who took all eight of the Terras corners and most of the free kicks, crossed from the Weymouth left to Craig Duff who headed back across goal. Matt Groves nodded the ball into the path of Byron Napper whose close range stabbed effort should have resulted in a goal but was cleared by the boot of City keeper Nick Jupp.
The Terras switched the play out to the flanks to great effect early on but struggled to cause Jupp many further problems.
The City keeper did enjoy some good fortune though when fumbling a cross and recovering to push the ball away for a corner as Groves closed in.
Groves was also involved when he flicked on a delightful cross from Reed with the ball bouncing off Napper just some six yards from goal and going through to Jupp.
At the opposite end of the pitch Sean Shields showed flashes of his capabilities but generally the service to the front duo of Simon Martin and Sakho Bakare left them little to feed off.
A Shields corner did cause some consternation in front of the Terras goal as Moussa Diarra, Cedric Ngakam and Martin all tried, unsuccessfully, to force the ball over the goal line.
And just prior to the interval a deep corner was headed into the goalmouth by Ngakam with Weymouth defender Ben Gerring heading out from under the crossbar to concede a corner.
Whatever words of wisdom Howell used during the interval worked a treat as City started the second half at last looking as if they believed promotion was a possibility. The lead was secured within two minutes of the restart.
Martin and Bakare linked to feed Shields who played a pass in from the right to James Comley, his flick deflected off the head of Terras defender Alex Jeannin and fell on the edge of the penalty area.
Howard Newton seized the opportunity to stretch and clip a stunning dipping shot over Alex Herds for the Guyana internationals’ third goal in as many games.
City now stepped up a gear and the south coast side were on the rocks.
Just a minute later Newton, Comley and Ryan Watts combined down the left and when the move looked to be breaking down Shields retrieved the ball by the right touchline and quite majestically skipped past Jamie Beasley before crossing to the near post where Martin neatly controlled the ball only to slash his shot wide.
The pressure was maintained with David Ijaha sending Shields away. Hards just managed to fingertip the shot onto the crossbar, Bakare’s powerful follow up was superbly blocked by Ashley Wells with Comley sending the loose ball across the face of a crowded goalmouth and wide.
Bakare, picked out by Watts’ cross, worked some space for himself inside the penalty area only to shoot comfortably over before Weymouth hit back with an effort from Duff that went straight at Jupp.
Leading scorer Bakare won the ball from Gerring on the halfway line and raced into the penalty area but was tracked all the way by Wells who did well to block the eventual shot that, in any case, was going well wide.
City’s dominance was finally rewarded with an excellent second goal on 68 minutes.
Martin sent Shields scampering away and after cutting in from the right onto his left foot the winger drove the ball into the Hatfield Road net from 15 yards with a slight deflection off Jeannin.
Within ten minutes of that goal City had replaced both Martin and Shields as the duo were carrying slight knocks.
The game still appeared to be completely within City’s control but total domination was lost when Bakare, clean through down the middle, sent his cushioned shot wide of not only the advancing Hards but also the target.
Weymouth made a significant alteration on 78 minutes when Matt Ford replaced full back Scott Dixon and within four minutes Ford had reduced the arrears when poking the ball past Jupp after Reed’s shot had bounced its way through a cluster of players.
Suddenly there was new belief in the Terras play and City looked more than a tad edgy.
City’s apprehension was fully punished on 88 minutes when Reed clipped a perfect ball from the middle of the Saints half towards the back post where a possibly offside Duff beat Jupp with a cracking header to the left of the diving keeper.
For City manager Howell his day was made complete when he was informed his car had received a parking ticket due to being on a double yellow line in York Road. A speeding offence would have secured the three points his team was looking for. |
