St Albans City's dramatic loss in form surely reached its nadir on New Year's Day as the Saints put in a performance which bordered on the incredulous as they surrendered meekly to an Enfield side which had conceded eight goals in its two festive games over the previous ten days.
Enfield may have kept an increasingly disenchanted crowd waiting until the sixth minute of injury time before Bryan Hammatt scored a wonderful winner but it was no less than the struggling E's deserved as they were clearly the better of two sides which, on this showing, can look forward to the coming months with little optimism.
But why St Albans should be receiving such criticism now is beyond all reason, up until just a few weeks ago they were sweeping away all before them by playing as a solid unit and linking superbly as a team. On Monday, as they were on Boxing Day at Chesham, City were a shambles and never looked remotely capable of completing their first double over the troubled north London club for 30 years.
The feeling that all was not well in the home camp began as early as the third minute when goalkeeper Richard Hurst ran to the edge of the penalty area only to see his attempted clearance rebound of Enfield striker Ronnie Watson and back into the penalty area although, fortunately, not close to goal. For Hurst, that was the start of a torrid afternoon for the City custodian whose kicking was dreadful as the former Kingstonian player continually put the ball out of play to hand possession back to Enfield time and again.
Hurst, though, was not alone in cheaply handing the ball to the E's, it was just about the only task City achieved with any ease.
City first threatened on 11 minutes when a flowing move ended with a Mark Rooney cross being seized upon by Richard Evans some 20 yards from goal but his low shot was comfortably smothered by Jerome John in the Enfield goal.
The Saints were almost handed a goal on 30 minutes when a Corey Campbell cross from the right bounced up onto the knee of E's defender Grant Cooper who then looked on in anguish as the ball flew just wide of the goal, other than for a second shot wide by Evans that was the extent of City attacking prowess during the first half. Enfield, despite having the greater share of the play, were equally toothless in attack and but for a couple of tame efforts Hammatt and Watson there was little danger of either side scoring.
Any hopes of City upping the tempo after the break against a side that has kept just one clean sheet on its travels this season quickly evaporated and the tedium of the opening 45 minutes was resumed. Watson went on a positive run and tested Hurst with a crisp effort on 63 minutes while four minutes later the Saints responded with a rare surge down the left by the unusually quiet Spencer Knight who saw his cross cracked over the bar by Gary Ansell's outstretched leg.
Nothing other than a goalless draw seemed the only possible outcome although John caused Enfield hearts to flutter when he dropped a long shot from Rooney but managed to gather the ball as Robbie Simpson slid in. Indeed it was City substitute Simpson who caused more havoc in the visitors defence than had been seen all afternoon but his best run at the E's backline was cynically ended on the edge of the penalty area by Wayne Brown who was fortunate to receive just a yellow card for his troubles.
Referee Alf Field, whose performance was little better than that of the two teams, played an astonishing 12 minutes and 48 seconds of injury time during which Hammatt, who scored both Enfield goals in City's 3-2 win earlier in the season, collected a pass from Cooper and beat one defender before driving a glorious shot across Hurst and into the far top corner of the net. That goal was pure class, the game was more painful than a New Year party hangover.
Report by Dave Tavener |
