Tom Davis
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After a gap of five years the Hertfordshire Senior Challenge Cup is safely back in the Clarence Park trophy cabinet following a low-key victory over Southern League side Boreham Wood on Tuesday evening at the County Ground at Letchworth.
Colin Lippiatt’s side was not at its best but the team captained by Ram Marwa always had enough about it to ensure that the first meeting between the two close rivals in the County Cup final went their way. Kezie Ibe put City on the victory trail with a first half goal – his third in successive games – while perhaps most appropriately it was top scorer Lee Clarke who struck the decisive second blow on the hour to clinch the Saints 13th success in the competition.
The game, overall, was a disappointment. Boreham Wood fielded a very young side and to their credit they certainly battled with tremendous fortitude while it was City who clearly possessed the class despite too many passes going astray. City dominated possession for long stretches but Ryan Moran and, particularly, Leon Townley, did a superb job at he heart of the Wood defence in dampening City’s attacking prowess. That duo were half of the former City players in the Wood starting line up – Noel Imber and Spencer Knight being the others – while goalkeeper Kenny Addai was on the bench. Knight’s match went pretty much the way of the rest of his career over the past few years with an injury seeing him depart the stage after just ten minutes.
Playing down the slope for the first half City began well and created the first opening of the game when Tom Davis played the ball into Ibe who showed some delightful skill as he cut in from the right only to blaze his shot to a distant part of the county. With clear chances at a premium City almost cashed in due to some uncertainty by Imber in dealing with crosses, fortunately for the keeper Wood’s strength in the air covered for his uncharacteristic weakness at crosses. With Matt Hann getting the better of his marker and seeing plenty of the ball this looked a possible source from which the game would be decided. Twenty minutes had elapsed before either side mustered an on target effort, Imber being called into action to smother the ball on his goalline after Gary Elphick swooped low to head goalwards a Hann free kick.
The game needed a goal to help fully bring it to life and although the breakthrough arrived on 26 minutes it, sadly, did not prove to be the spark to fully ignite affairs. Clarke was instrumental in the build up as he shrugged off a couple of challenges and rampaged deep into the Wood half before slipping the ball off to Ibe. With a swift turn Clarke’s striking partner was one-on-one with Imber only to appear to miscue his shot but in fact it was perfectly placed as the ball rolled to the right of the sprawling keeper and into the goal.
City sought to build quickly on their advantage but on 38 minutes the underdogs scored a comical equaliser, not that Paul Bastock found much to laugh about as he gave a verbal lashing to his central defenders after a mid-air collision between Ben Martin and Gary Elphick allowed the lively Marvin Samuel to run through and shoot powerfully past the irate keeper.
Despite City having the upper hand and it was only due to Bastock that the Saints still possessed a lead up until that point as earlier in the half he pulled off a glorious save from Samuel’s rasping drive from the edge of the box.
The second half again saw City boss the possession but as with the first half Imber had few real shots to deal with. Chris Seeby, moving forward from right back where he was standing in for the inured Dean Hooper, had a couple of long range shots charged down but did get one soft effort on target after a good build up between Davis and Marwa.
Much of the excitement and tension that supporters love about cup finals had already been lost due to the sheer stupidity of a large number of Wood’s so called supporters. Their vile verbal and physical abuse of the disappointingly low turnout from St. Albans – perhaps wary after previous encounters with this undesirable bunch – had long since distracted even the most committed of spectator and attracted the attention of the local constabulary. Even when City regained the lead on the hour the mob failed to be silenced and trooped from one end of the ground to the other to intimidate the City support that, belatedly, received some cover from the boys in blue.
The goal that clinched the cup for the Saints will haunt Wood for the rest of the season as they stood rooted to their positions after Nick Roddis, who worked hard throughout, curled a free kick into the top penalty area. The right-footed kick bounced once with at least two City players ready to pounce, Clarke was first to the ball and with time and space to think he calmly headed his 28th goal of the season to Imber’s left.
Seven minutes later Moran and Townley played a footballing version of Russian roulette and almost shot themselves, well, in the foot rather than head as Clarke whipped the ball away from Townley but his unusually poor shot was stopped by the keeper.
Imber was tested more positively when he had to react swiftly to palm from under the crossbar a Davis free kick. Wood tried to launch a late assault on the Saints defence but Martin and Elphick, receiving good support from Scott Cousins, did well to quell the very physical presence of Chris Bangura and Olujimi Oshun who gave a good account of themselves considering the few chances that came their way. But it was City who actually ended the evening threatening more goals with Gavin Tomlin, an 82nd minute replacement for Ibe, taking the short time available to him to demonstrate his undoubted talents.
Report by Dave Tavener |