Ninety minutes of mediocrity were washed away by a dramatic finale at Clarence Park on Saturday as St Albans City, just seconds after conceding an equaliser in the third minute of injury time, struck back with Gary Ansell's sixth goal in five games to leave Dulwich Hamlet firmly rooted to the foot of the Ryman League Premier Division table.
Ansell's well taken goal lifts the Saints to a seasons high of fifth but it was not hard to believe that the spirit of Christmas had passed the visitors by as they twice rattled the City woodwork before Aiden O'Brien finally plundered a surprise equaliser. Dulwich certainly deserved at least a share of the spoils but City felt that the match officials had been dishing out gifts of their own as O'Brien was felt to be a good two yards offside as he volleyed an Ian Savage free-kick past City keeper Richard Hurst.
Going into the game on the back of a run of 12 wins in 14 games and facing a side yet to win on its travels this season, the Saints could be excused for thinking that here was a golden opportunity to boost their goal difference. And certainly City started confidently enough with Ansell having two good chances inside the opening nine minutes, the first of which was blocked by the legs of Hamlet's player-manager goalkeeper Les Cleevely whilst the second effort flew across the face of the goal.
For a side struggling to score goals Dulwich showed no shortage of creativity when going forward but prior to the interval they were well contained by the City defence. One piece of excellent skill by Mervyn Abraham took him around two City defenders before Richard Evans, back after missing 11 games, put in a timely interception. On 38 minutes a low cross by Mark Rooney was killed by Ansell before his crisp drive was beaten out by Cleevely to Evans whose 20 yard effort went comfortably over.
Having got stronger as the first half wore on Dulwich suffered a setback on the hour as City opened the scoring. Francis Birch, making his Ryman League debut, played the ball short to Spencer Knight and the Saints man of the match whipped over a perfect cross from the left which was smartly headed by Robbie Simpson past Cleevely from six yards into the centre of the goal.
Six minutes later Steve Barnes, on his home debut, crossed from the right to Ansell whose back post header was well saved by Cleevely at the expense of a corner. From the corner, taken by Gary Wraight, the keeper did well to block Knight's point blank header and was able to smother the ball as the City striker fluffed his follow-up ground shot.
The season of goodwill certainly seemed to favour the Saints as Dulwich countered with powerful drives from outside the penalty area by Savage and Gary Blackford which thudded into the woodwork with Hurst well beaten. Even so, Hamlet were thankful to the veteran Cleevely for a stunning save following Ansell's close range header and that save looked crucial three minutes into injury time as the visitors drew level. Richard Goddard conceded a free-kick and could then only look on as O'Brien edged clear of the City defence and clipped Savage's pass into the back of the net.
City appealed strongly for offside but their anger subsided almost immediately from the kick-off as the ball was played forward to Knight who fed the advancing Chris Piper. With a selfless pass the midfielder found Ansell who cut across two defenders and beat the static Cleevely with a delightful angled shot inside the keeper's left hand upright. There was just sufficient time remaining for Goddard to collect a yellow card for suggesting to a linesman that justice had been done, or words to that effect.
Report by Dave Tavener |
