‘Cambridge beat us in the first half, and the officials beat us in the second.’ So fumed St Albans City manager Dave Anderson as the Saints slumped to a crushing defeat to Cambridge City at Milton Road on New Years Day.
Anderson had not blasted the match officials previously during his short reign in charge at St Albans but the Saints boss was furious for the award of two penalties to Gary Roberts side early in the second half. The first spot kick saw defender Marcel McKie penalised after a powerful drive from Neil Midgley crashed into his raised hand.
The second came after Jomo Faal-Thomas was deemed to have fouled Lee Roache, again inside the penalty area although the Saints are adamant that the offence was outside the box. Referee Chris Miller further confused the situation by not dismissing the City right back when he was the last defender.
In some respects, whilst it is easy to sympathise with the Saints, St Albans complaints have a hollow ring to them as Anderson’s side failed to muster a single on target shot in the entire game, so, as a consequence, were virtually condemned to defeat once Lee Chaffey put Cambridge ahead on 17 minutes.
St Albans showed one change to the XI that drew with Braintree on Saturday with Faal-Thomas coming in for Hassan Sulaiman. The right-sided Sulaiman did reappear at half time, for Scott Cousins, but now faces at least a month on the sidelines after pulling up with a hamstring injury ten minutes from time.
Cambridge, whose win at Clarence Park on Boxing Day was only their third in 17 games, were hammered 4-0 at Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday and looked uneasy early on as St Albans made a most promising start. In fact, the visitors enjoyed a majority of the play throughout but up front packed all the punch of a second hand Christmas cracker.
The Saints had a golden opportunity to set the game on a different path on eight minutes when Lee Clarke headed the ball onto Jon Stevenson who, after neatly sidestepping one defender, opted to go for power rather than accuracy and lashed his shot wide of recalled keeper Shane Herbert’s left hand post.
City continued to play some decent passing football but were undone through Cambridge’s first real attack on 17 minutes. Hasim Deen conceded a free kick wide on the Whites’ left and from Ashley Fuller’s deep dead ball cross Michael Gash head on for Chaffey to stab the ball under Nick Eyre for the opening goal.
Cambridge dominated the Boxing Day meeting between the two sides but despite their lead struggled to get a hold on this game and were relieved to see a Lee Clarke shot fly well over the target. With City needing an equaliser, not to mention a victory to close the gap that is appearing between themselves and the rest of the pack towards the foot of the Blue Square South table, the sight of Clarke floating around in midfield rather than in attack was baffling.
A spell of City pressure almost brought about a bizarre equaliser on 34 minutes when a promising run by Solomon Henry won the visitors second corner of the game. Cousins swung the ball in left footed, keeper Herbert stretched backwards as the ball curled in and just managed to push it against the inside of the back post with Cambridge then scrambling it away to safety.
Three minutes later and the game was as good as over. Steve Wales beat Cousins by the City goal line before being tripped by McKie. The City defender took a knock in the process and was still off the pitch as Fuller chipped the ball to the back post for Gash to head in the second Cambridge goal.
Cambridge ought to have added a third right on half time but Wales’ just overhit his through ball allowing Eyre to gather at the feet of Tom Youngs.
With Clarke pushed forward, St Albans, as with the first half, began the second period positively but suffered a shattering blow on 49 minutes when Midgley, receiving a lay off from Gash, drilled the ball forward where it struck McKie’s hand close to the defenders face. Referee Miller pointed to the spot, Eyre moved to his left, Gash’s spot kick went straight down the middle and Cambridge were three up.
Cambridge rounded off a fourth consecutive, and biggest, victory over St Albans on 59 minute with Gash completing his hat trick courtesy of another penalty. Substitute Lee Roache, latching onto a perfect through ball, dashed between central defenders Ryan Frater and Craig Vargas, only to be sent tumbling by Faal-Thomas. Much to the consternation of the Saints the match official again pointed to the spot and Gash clipped the ball to a static Eyre’s left.
Twice in quick succession Eyre cut out dangerous outswinging crosses, as Cambridge looked for more while on 81 minutes the Saints keeper safely caught Roache’s crisp drive from 25 yards.
The six points Cambridge have taken off the Saints over the holiday period have eased the home sides fears of being sucked into a relegation battle but one point from three holiday games for St Albans has severely weakened their position. City possess the most porous defence in the Division, which is no reflection on outstanding goalkeeper Nick Eyre, but with every match in which they manage to win six corners and the opposition none, yet still fail to get a single shot on target, such as with this match, then their plight will look increasingly desperate.
Report by David Tavener |