St Albans City F.C. History & Archives - Fixtures & Results | St Albans City F.C. History & Archives

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03.09.2005 at 15:00 Church Road

Attendance : 262

Hayes

0 - 1

St Albans City

Referee : J Comley

Conference South

Goalscorers

None	Lee Clarke (49)

Opening squads

Kevin Davies
James Saulsbury
Mark Dennison
Peter Collins
Orlando Jeffrey
Kevin McKenna
Shaun McAuley
Marvin Bartley
Jeff Goulding
Kieran Knight
Stuart Goodall

Paul Bastock
Dean Cracknell
Scott Cousins
Tom Davis
Mark Graham
Lee Clarke
Simon Martin
Nick Roddis
Djoumin Sangare
Chris Seeby
Patrick Ada

Substitutes

Charlie Hill
Mark Bartley
Liam Feeney
Kevin Warner
Louis Wells

Matt Hann
Paul Hakim
Thomas Beech
Tommy Williams
Anthony Allman

Substitutions

Charlie Hill -> Jeff Goulding (73)
Liam Feeney -> Stuart Goodall (16)
Kevin Warner -> Shaun McAuley
(46)

Anthony Allman -> Nick Roddis (74)
Matt Hann -> Tom Davis (74)
Paul Hakim -> Simon Martin (74)

Yellow cards

Kieran Knight (60)

Patrick Ada (8)
Dean Cracknell (40)
Djoumin Sangare (60)

Red cards

None

None.

Match report

Lee Clarke gets the better of his marker.

For all the match pictures visit www.leighpage.co.uk

With his seventh goal of the season on Saturday Lee Clarke ended Hayes unbeaten start to the season, propelled St Albans City into the top five of the Conference South and in so doing a created a little piece of club history in becoming the first player to score in all six of the Saints opening league games to a season.
But while Clarke will once again grab the headlines it must be said that this was an impressive all round City performance as the Saints ended a run of a dozen winless matches against Hayes and chalked up their first success at Church Road in 14 years.
City were at their best prior to the interval and should have secured a commanding lead during that time but after the break when the Missioners came at them with some purpose City’s defending was exceptional. The partnership of Patrick Ada and Djoumin Sangare is blossoming into the most formidable central duo City have had for many years while Scott Cousins gave his best performance of the season and Chris Seeby is maturing at great pace.
However, a crucial lynchpin to this success was Nick Roddis as the former England semi-professional international gave considerable support just in front of the back four.
On a hard dry pitch the game almost got off to a sensational start as Sangare stood off to allow Jeff Goulding a free run down the Hayes left, the strikers angled drive was parried by Paul Bastock and only just gathered at the second attempt as Kieran Knight closed in.
City were soon into their strike though and played some highly enterprising football in increasingly warm conditions. On six minutes Dean Cracknell, who started the game as if he was going to run the show, broke forward from midfield and slipped a perfect ball into the path of Simon Martin who clipped a shot across keeper Kevin Davies but also just beyond the back post.
A deep Cousins free kick was drilled into the box by Clarke and diverted to Sangare whose crisp drive appeared to strike Marvin Bartley’s arm before going out for a corner. City looked to have scored on 12 minutes when Cracknell sent Clarke away, his shot was blocked but sat up nicely for Martin to dive in to score with a header only to be denied by an offside flag.
Either side of Mark Graham having two shots comfortably saved by Davies, Knight tested Bastock with a deflected rising effort but Knight, with a well flighted half-volley, did get the ball past the City keeper only for Sangare to make a dramatic goalline clearance.
The second half could not have started better for City as Clarke struck just four minutes after the restart when a deep left-sided cross from Cousins was collected by Tom Davis and headed down by Cracknell for Clarke to shoot powerfully home with an angled drive.
For the next 25 minutes City were very much on the back foot as Hayes pushed forward but due to the brilliance of the Saints defence Willy Wordsworth’s side created few clear opportunities. A 53rd minute corner by Kevin Warner was headed goalwards by Kevin McKenna only for Cousins to clear left-footed from almost in the goal while Knight fired over after being set up by Bartley.
Although most of Bastock’s work entailed most efficiently with good crosses into dangerous positions it was his agility that kept Hayes at bay on the hour as he got down quickly to block Knight’s header and as the Hayes striker looked set to pounce on the rebound the 35 year-old keeper somehow pushed the ball away before it was scrambled to safety.
Hayes continued to push City back until Colin Lippiatt attempted what appeared to be a risky triple substitutions, it proved to be a match winning move. The introduction of Paul Hakim, Anthony Allman and Matt Hann gave the Saints fresh impetus all over the pitch and it was his side that ended the game going forward.
Hakim, in fact, almost doubled the advantage when he collected a long punt from Bastock but in shrugging off a heavy challenge lost his footing and then rushed a shot which Davies saved to his left.

Match report by Dave Tavener. Kindly supplied by The St Albans Observer.