St Albans City may have had a new management team at Bashley on Saturday but it was an all too familiar firing of blanks that contributed to a 2-0 Southern League defeat deep in the New Forest.
City’s performance hardly bore the hallmark of a side about to turn the tide but the XI put out by caretaker managers Graham Golds and Jimmy Gray enjoyed long spells of possession only to be undone by a lack of penetration close to goal.
In fact the Saints failed to trouble Bash keeper Stewart Kearn with as much as a single shot on target as they slipped to a third consecutive defeat, during which time City supporters have seen their side conjure up just four on target efforts.
The defeat sees St Albans slip to ninth in the Premier Division, just two points clear of Frank Gray’s team who are shooting up the table on the back of three straight wins.
Golds and Gray wanted their side to play an expansive passing game with Richard Graham and Sean Shields stretching their Hampshire hosts. Unfortunately the two wide men got dragged inside too often and Bashley were seldom troubled down the flanks.
City, though, did have the first shot of the game when Shields, set up by Matt Taylor, slashed a shot into the bare trees massed behind the goal with his claim for a corner off Ian Oliver going unanswered.
Bashley opted for a more spectacular route to goal with a couple of overhead kicks, the second of which by Mark Gamble forced Nick Jupp into making the first save of the day.
Despite seeing a lot of the ball it was not until the half hour when the Saints suggested they might call Kearn into action but Micah Hyde, picked out by Chris Seeby, saw his shot from 23 yards drift harmlessly wide.
Six minutes later and City ought to have taken the lead when Curtis Ujah out-lumped Kearn to meet a Graham corner but the muscular defender header over from barely three yards out.
Bashley ended the half with a flurry of attacking intent as Gamble went close and Ian Richardson headed through to Jupp before opening the scoring on 40 minutes with a perfect downward header by Gamble following Charlie Knight’s fine cross from the Bash right.
The game was in danger of not being completed by the time the second half began as the floodlights on one side of the ground went out. Bashley, whose game as Redditch the previous Saturday was abandoned due to a flooded pitch, were somewhat relieved when full power was restored seven minutes after the interval.
Maybe the full strength of the lights was too bright for Knight who shot weakly at Jupp when it looked easier to score after being put in by James Stokoe.
To their credit St Albans persisted with a mainly patient passing game that was not easy on an uneven surface and one such move ended when Simon Martin, after being picked out by Hyde, crashed his shot well over the home goal.
A loose pass by Taylor allowed Bashley to break clear with Stokoe and Knight working the ball up to Josh Casey whose cross flashed across the face of the visitor’s goal.
A similar incident at the opposite end of the pitch saw Shields slip the ball into Graham’s path only for his cross to be too high and hard for any team mates to take advantage of.
During the final 15 minutes, under increasingly stormy looking skies, City attacked with greater urgency but other than for a charged down Shields free kick and blocked goal-bound efforts from Seeby and substitute Chris Henry, the home goal went unthreatened.
Having stood firm defensively Bashley broke in decisive fashion on 89 minutes when Casey’s cross from the left went over Gamble’s left shoulder before the striker struck a rising right-footed half volley that the diving Jupp did well to push high into the air but could not get back to stop from looping into the goal.
St Albans are believed to have held interviews for the managerial position vacated by the dismissal of David Howell earlier in the week and are thought to be looking to make an appointment during the coming week.
An appointment can hardly come soon enough with the rash of departures – two officials and five managerial and coaching staff – leaving the Saints in the embarrassing position of having to rely on the generosity of Bashley lending their physio, Neil Archbold, to tend to the injured Simon Martin. |