St. Albans City 5 Wealdstone 2
Saturday 11thOctober
The Citizens completed a Herts and Middlesex League “double” over Wealdstone , on Saturday, when they defeated them in a return game at Clarence Park . It was a hard encounter, with play, at periods, perhaps a trifle too robust, but the football displayed never reached the high standard attained by both sides in the previous week's encounter at Wealdstone .
St. Albans made one change, Cook re-appearing at back, with Short at right-half. Wealdstone were without A. W. Loveday, C. Barker and Butterworth, but had the assistance of J. Wilson, an old player who hails from Rickmansworth and is now serving with the Forces. He figured at inside-left, led St. Albans' defenders a merry dance and got both his side’s goals.
Wealdstone OPEN THE SCORING.
A stiff breeze blowing down the slope had a big influence on the run of the play. Wealdstone , with the advantage of the conditions in the first half, did the bulk of the attacking before the interval and were, indeed, the better together in this period when St. Albans' passing often went astray. Yet it was in the first half that Wealdstone lost their chance of turning the tables on the Citizens. They secured the lead after fourteen minutes, WILSON heading through from Winterbotham's centre. In the next fifteen minutes, Wealdstone might well have consolidated their position. Wilson and Dolding, their left-wing pair, made many delightful runs in which Short and Cook were nonplussed, but Wealdstone , as in the game on their own ground, did not appreciate the value of first-time shooting.
Movements that should have produced goals fizzled out because forwards tried to walk the ball through, tactics which failed against some excellent defensive play by Goldsack, Hall and Kirkham, while Powell, in goal, displaying excellent anticipation, gathered the ball cleanly and dispatched it to safety with alacrity.
SAUNDERS' OPPORTUNISM.
St. Albans' forwards, with fewer chances, were more direct in their methods and, as a result, the Citizens enjoyed an interval lead. SAUNDERS was the opportunist. He got the equaliser after twenty-eight minutes when he raced through from Burke's' pass and beat Doherty with a fast cross ground shot. Three minutes later, SAUNDERS netted again with a fine drive from Allen's centre. Wealdstone pressed hard, and Dyke. the former St. Albans player, was unlucky not to score when he hit the crossbar with a snap shot while Powell was out of goal.
Kicking down the slope with the wind at their backs. St. Albans opened the second half as though they had an easy task. They attacked heavily, but a shock was in store for them. In a breakaway by Wilson and Dolding, hesitancy to clear on-the part of a St. Albans defender let Dolding through and he passed squarely for WILSON to make the scores level with a well-placed shot into the top corner of the net.
CITIZENS TAKE CHARGE.
That happened six minutes after the resumption, and it was not long before St. Albans regained the lead. Doherty pushed out a free-kick taken by Richardson, but Earle retrieved the ball and placed it astutely for KIRKHAM to take in his stride and score with a powerful shot which was delivered from the edge of the penalty area and went into the top corner of the net at great speed.
Although St. Albans continued to do the bulk of the attacking, Wealdstone managed to prevent any addition to the score for twenty minutes, and during that period might have equalised, for they were awarded a penalty-kick when Charlton was brought down from behind, but Dolding wasted that chance by shooting wide.
The result was put beyond all doubt when BURKE, who played a dashing game and was a continual source of worry to the opposing defenders, nipped through smartly to convert a free-kick taken by Kirkham. Wealdstone subsequently did well to keep the score against them down to five, St. Albans' last goal being heeded by ALLEN after clever dribbling and a neat centre from Earle.
A collection in aid of St. Albans Hospital realised £5 10s.
St. Albans City:H. P. Powell; E. Cock, L. Goldsack: T. A. Short, L. Hall, S Kirkham; W. Saunders. S. Earle. R. Burke. J. Richardson, W. Allen.
Wealdstone :M. Doherty: T. Kay. B Leeming; S. Kay. G. Upchurch. P. Bunyan: S. Winterbotham, H. Dyke. H. Charlton. J. Wilson, L. Dolding.
Referee:Mr. H. E. Edwards (Waltham Cross),
