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29.11.2003 at 15:00 Clarence Park

Attendance : 327

St Albans City

0 - 0

Crawley Town

Referee : John Hopkins

FA Trophy 2nd Round

Goalscorers

None.

None

Opening squads

Wesley Jackman
Corey Campbell
Miguel De Souza
Gary Wraight
Scott Oakes
Jamie Richards
Simon Martin
Greg Deacon
Matt Jones
Jay Murray
Chris Seeby

Craig Holloway
Ben Judge
Ian Payne
Karl Ready
Marc Pullen
Robert Smith
Paul Armstrong
Jay Richardson
Carl Wilson-Dennis
Charlie McDonald
Justin Gregory

Substitutes

Martin Williams
Graeme Tomlinson
Andrew Oxby
Ian Taylor
Danny Cross

Nigel Blake
Joff Vansittart
Maurice Harkin

Substitutions

Martin Williams -> Jamie Richards (67)
Graeme Tomlinson -> Scott Oakes (79)
Danny Cross -> Matt Jones (88)

Nigel Blake -> Robert Smith (73)
Joff Vansittart -> Carl Wilson-Dennis (79)
Maurice Harkin -> Justin Gregory (73)

Yellow cards

Corey Campbell (19)
Simon Martin (28)
Miguel De Souza (55)

Robert Smith (62)
Ian Payne (72)

Red cards

None.

None

Match report

A cold and wet day at Clarence Park for the first ever visit of Crawley Town. Early pace-setters in the Premier Division of the Dr. Martens League this season, Town have lost their last three League games and are now 8th in their table.

For today, Steve Castle selected Jackman in goal for his home debut; 4 at the back: Deacon, De Souza, Campbell and Matt Jones from The Reserves making his debut start; 4 in the middle: Murray Seeby, Wraight(C) and Oakes; and up front: Martin and Richards, making his home debut. On the bench: Williams, Oxby, Tomlinson, Cross and the keeper from The Reserves, Ian Taylor. Brown is suspended, Gledhill and Smith are injured, Crawshaw and Naylor have retired and new boy Richard Thomas is cup-tied.

This was poor. Crawley started the brighter but Saints managed the first shot on target on 20 minutes. City began to compete as the half wore on but Town created more half-chances without seriously testing Jackman. The home keeper did well to come out of the area to frustrate the visiting strikers twice in as many minutes when they beat the Saints' offside trap. Closest to a goal was Oakes who hit a 35 yard free kick into the area which was misjudged by everybody before just clearing the bar after it's second bounce. H.T. 0-0.

The second half was marginally better than the first but there was little cohesive football to warm the sparse crowd. Jones looked a skilful player when coming forward and will be pleased with his debut. Once again, City came closest to breaking the deadlock when in one of those slow-motion goal-mouth scrambles, Murray once and Martin twice had close range shots blocked. Jackman made a fine save from a powerful shot from distance. 0-0 was probably a fair result on the balance of play.

This was disappointing stuff today. The back four looked solid enough although they were caught out a couple of times which could have been costly. Saints didn't create much, however, and the midfield were largely anonymous today. Crawley Town had little to offer either. MotM? Jackman if I have to, although the pre-match P.A. chap, Zealster from the web-site making his debut too, did well and should come into the reckoning.

The season-ticket holders removed the temporary goals from beside the pitch before the game. An improvement to the view but perhaps they should have left well alone.

Entertainment 4/10. Technical Merit 3/10. Atmosphere 4/10. Referee 4/10.

Next up. A replay at Crawley Town on Tuesday evening and then back at Clarence Park next Saturday for the visit of Hendon. More cup fever next Tuesday evening when we entertain Hoddesdon.

Report by Homer