St Albans City fell someway below recent performances at Clarence Park on Tuesday but still had little trouble in moving through to the 3rd Round of the Ryman League Cup at the expense of struggling Division One side Leatherhead.
On an unusually warm November evening the Saints gave a debut to former West Ham United Youth player Francis Birch, who is 19 today (Friday), and gave a first full 90 minute run out to Garry Cook who joined the club last week after a spell in America. The muscular Cook proved too strong for the Tanners and with a goal in either half he paved the way for the Saints ninth victory in ten outings.
Playing on a pitch which has stood up remarkably well to the continuous rain of recent months, City made the task harder than it should have been with far too many passes going astray and it did appear to be case of doing just enough to get through, certainly one felt that had Leatherhead been capable of making a stronger challenge then the Saints could have upped their tempo.
City were first to threaten with Cook heading over from a Spencer Knight cross whilst the most enterprising move of the opening exchanges saw Richard O'Connor and Ben Papa play a neat one-two before the latter saw his shot comfortably saved by Richard Hurst.
The Saints moved towards their fourth consecutive win over the Tanners in the 24th minute with a slightly controversial goal. Birch sent a free-kick over from the City left, Gary Ansell challenged the debut making Leatherhead goalkeeper Rob Hall which allowed the ball to break loose for Cook to hook home his first goal or the club.
Leatherhead felt further miffed when referee John Pearce, who had a far from impressive match, turned a blind eye when Ryan Moran appeared to shove Gareth Cope inside the penalty area. Cook squandered a clear opening after being sent clear in the 36th minute while only a highly dubious offside decision against Spencer Knight as he tucked the ball home following a miscued shot from Cook in the 43rd minute prevented City from doubling their interval advantage.
A fine effort from Papa went close to pulling Leatherhead level soon after the restart whilst Ansell's recent barren spell continued as one effort flew into the side netting and a second was well blocked by the legs of Hall. A second City goal seemed to be edging ever nearer but a low ball across the face of the goal by Ansell was just too long for Cook. City's patience was rewarded on the hour when Mark Rooney's attempted pass in from the right to Knight was intercepted by defender Iain Hendry who then had the misfortune to lose control and hand possession to Knight who curled a delightful effort across Hall and into the far corner of the net for his first goal at Clarence Park.
Three minutes later Leatherhead made a double substitute which, within 60 seconds, proved to be inspirational to say the least. The first of the new boys, Paul Harkness, crossed for fellow new arrival Chris Fossey to force the ball into the back of the York Road net. Despite this unexpected lifeline the Tanners seldom appeared likely to take the tie into extra time and City's safe passage to the 3rd Round was confirmed in the 72nd minute when Chris Piper and Rooney combined down the right to feed Knight whose cross to the edge of the six yard box was confidently volleyed home by the incoming Cook.
The former Hereford player came within a few inches of completing his hat-trick ten minutes from time whilst in injury time Leatherhead substitute Jeremy Jones made the miss of the night when sending a free header over the City goal.
Report by Dave Tavener |
