“We can mount a challenge for the play-offs” was the rallying cry of joint St Albans City manager James Gray following the Saints merited 3-1 Southern League victory over Arlesey Town at a muddy and heavily sanded Hitchin Road on Saturday.
City, with a new central defensive partnership of Ryan Wharton and Joe Bruce, were good value for their first win since before Christmas while Arlesey’s run of three consecutive Premier Division defeats could be some games away from coming to an end on this evidence.
Large areas of the playing surface are said to have been under water one day before the game and attacking the firmer end of the ground during the first half City look to make early inroads.
Inside the opening minute Greg Ngoyi charged down a clearance and freed David Keenleyside but a rushed shot allowed Town keeper Nathan Abbey to make a relatively simple save low down.
Ngoyi’s persistence did bring reward though after just nine minutes when he did well to beat former Saint Danny Gordon to the ball only to be brought down from behind by the Arlesey defender.
Referee Colin Reeve, who attracted a barrage of complaints – some justified but many not – from home officials and players alike, pointed to the spot and Ngoyi calmly sent Abbey the wrong way to open the scoring.
Gordon made another elementary slip on 20 minutes when his miscue back to Abbey was intercepted by Keenleyside but the former London Colney player allowed the keeper to just enough sight of the ball to whip it from his toes.
Midway through the half Arlesey had ambitious appeals for a penalty rejected after the ball bounced up and struck Wharton on the arm, and other than for a blocked effort by their leading marksman Drew Roberts the home side were making little headway against the new look City defence.
And it was more than a little surprising when Zema Abbey’s side drew level on 33 minutes. Jemal Prosper crossed from the right touchline and Aston Goss timed his run to the back post to perfection to force the ball home.
Arlesey failed to build on this breakthrough and it was St Albans who finished the half the strongest with efforts from Keenleyside and James Comley going just over the home goal.
Having defended the most difficult end of the pitch for the opening 45 minutes and come through relatively unscathed, City wasted no time after the interval in making life uncomfortable for the home defenders in the clinging mud that had been rolled during half time.
Moving forward with the ball Saints skipper Comley slipped a pass wide to Keenleyside on the right and from his precise low ball into the centre of the penalty area Urquhart pounced to slam home his first goal in the Southern League.
Being back in front within a minute of the restart provided the platform upon which the visitors were able to gain almost complete control over an increasingly frustrated home XI.
Even so, Nick Jupp was called upon to make a rare intervention when diving to his right to save a Chris Dillon flick from Prosper’s cross.
With a cleverly placed low curling free kick Keenleyside almost grabbed his first goal only for Abbey, who appeared to see the ball late, save smartly by the foot of an upright.
On 62 minutes St Albans struck for a third time with a goal consisting of a flash of brilliance and a large dose of opportunism.
Richard Graham out on the Saints right, lifted a free kick towards the edge of the penalty area. As the ball dropped Seeby unleashed a spectacular right-footed volley that crashed into the face of the crossbar.
Before any defenders could react Ngoyi stepped forward to head the rebound beyond the still grounded Abbey.
Arlesey rallied briefly but a shot by Ricky Miller straight at Jupp was the best they had to offer.
At the opposite end of the pitch, Abbey made a fine save from Comley to hand St Albans their only corner of the game.
And the 34-year-old keeper also stretched well to save an angled drive Graham, following good work by substitute Chris Henry, but Comley maybe should have buried the rebound but dithered just long enough to allow Arlesey to clear.
The match ended on an unsavoury note for the home side when new signing from St Neots Town, Ollie Thorne, was dismissed for a second yellow card offence following a spat with Comley. |
