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23.01.2007 at 19:45 Broadhall Way

Attendance : 2141

Stevenage Borough

1 - 2

St Albans City
Referee : Gavin Ward Nationwide Conference

Goalscorers
Dale Binns (48) Paul Hakim (70)
Lee Clarke (73)
Opening squads
Alan Julian
Barry Fuller
John Nutter
Marcio Gaia
Jamie Slabber
Jon Nurse
Adam Miller
Steve Morison
Dale Binns
Ronnie Henry
Mark Beard		 Paul Bastock
Dean Cracknell
Tom Davis
Gary Elphick
Matt Hann
Lee Clarke
Chris Watters
Damien Batt
Djoumin Sangare
Leon Archer
Patrick Ada
Substitutes
Danny Potter
Luke Oliver
Jason Goodliffe
Craig Dobson
Mark Hughes		 Ranbir Marwa
Paul Hakim
Simon Martin
Ricky Perks
Chris Seeby
Substitutions
Luke Oliver -> Jamie Slabber (68)
Mark Hughes -> Barry Fuller (84)		 Paul Hakim -> Chris Watters (60)
Yellow cards
None Chris Watters (55)
Paul Hakim (76)
Tom Davis (81)
Red cards
None None.
Other statistics
10 Shots 11
3 Shots on goal 6
4 Offsides 7
7 Corner kicks 2
13 Free kicks 12
0kk Penalties 0
Match report

Lee Clarke (left) heads the winning goal

Two hundred and sixty-one days after goals from Paul Hakim and Lee Clarke clinched victory for St Albans City at Broadhall Way over Histon, and with it a place in the Conference National, the duo struck again to hand hosts Stevenage Borough a shock first defeat since the start of November and breathe new life into the Saints bid for a second season amongst the elite of the non-league game.

During a final twenty minutes that defied all that had gone before City scored twice, and could have notched at least two more, yet over the ninety minutes the Saints could not have complained had they slipped to an eighth defeat in nine games and Mark Stimson's Boro recorded an eighth straight success. The match was transformed with the 60th minute introduction on the left of the Saints midfield of Paul Hakim for the struggling Chris Watters. Hakim, for whom Boro are one of several clubs with which he has trials since walking out on the Saints back in November, was a revelation as he added pace and penetration to a midfield that had certainly toiled endlessly but made few positive inroads.

But if Hakim was the star for the final half hour or so, then the real City heroes over the full ninety minutes were Gary Elphick and his fellow defenders. Colin Lippiatt rested Chris Seeby with Patrick Ada going to right back and giving a performance that was worthy of the man of the match award had that Freddie Flintoff look-a-like Elphick, on his 50th game for the club, not been in such commanding form. The return of Djoumin Sangare has given added solidity to the centre of the City defence and the Frenchman was again in outstanding form. Completing a defensive line that gave a performance as good as any seen by the Saints backline this season was Damian Batt who had clearly put behind him his dodgy first hour at Burton Albion on Saturday to return to the more accustomed assurance he normally gives whether defending or moving swiftly down the flank.

For the final twenty minutes it was a terrific team effort in what felt like a cup-tie as both sides went for goal, for the first seventy minutes it was a case of hats off to the defence as City offered precious little going forward and one felt that at any time Boro would open the floodgates. Maybe there was a hint of complacency in the manner Stevenage went about their task, once ahead it was anticipated, certainly off the pitch, that they would confirm that the northern part of the county is top dog in non-league football this season. But despite being by some distance the better side for more than two-thirds of the game, they gave City keeper Paul Bastock few problems with the veteran keepers main concern being the threat of frostbite on a bitterly cold evening.

Colin Lippiatt shuffled his pack again after the defeat at Burton with, as mentioned, Ada going to right back in place of Seeby while Tom Davis returned from suspension in place of Ram Marwa. Watters came into the left side of the midfield while Leon Archer was given a second run up front alongside Lee Clarke.

Ironically it was a misjudgement by the otherwise excellent Sangare that allowed Boro the first chance of the evening. As the City defender floundered, Jon Nurse broke through only for his cross to be headed away by Ada, Mark Beard immediately returned the ball into the box only for Ada to clear for a second time. The tone for the evening had been set; Boro would work the ball up to the edge of the City box and on umpteen occasions be rebuffed by a pretty formidable Blue wall.

Barry Fuller saw his dangerous cross well headed away by Elphick but this time John Nutter seized upon the loose ball only for his shot from some distance to fly harmlessly wide. Boro suffered a blow when recent acquisition Jamie Slabber went off for treatment to a mouth injury and returned with a number 14 shirt instead of his starting no.7, which had been smartly washed and ironed by the time the sides reappeared for the second half.

Dale Binns, who has been a thorn in City's side whether playing against them for Hendon, Cambridge City or, now, Stevenage, sent in a low cross that led to Sangare and Batt into believing it would be a good idea to tackle each other inside the penalty area. Fortunately both survived unscathed and referee Gavin Ward decided that it was such a farcical moment he could not punish Bastock for picking up what those with a twisted mind could consider to be a contrived back pass.

Boro should have taken the lead on 12 minutes when Binns whipped in a perfect cross that the completely free Steve Morison could only head tamely through to Bastock. Two minutes later the custodian of the City goal was relieved to see Slabber fire across the goal and wide after being put through by Adam Miller. Binns was equally wasteful with a back post header to a Fuller cross while Sangare was unfortunate to have the ball stolen from him after keeping it in play by the touchline but help was hand, as ever, in the form of Elphick and the danger was cleared as Slabber threatened to burst through.

Boro won the first corner of the game in the 29th minute but the delivery from set pieces was poor from both sides, indeed at one point in the second half it did seem that Davis had an arrow pointing to the top of his head as Miller placed three successive Stevenage corners straight onto the City midfielders bonce.

On what is a first rate surface, Boro continued to call the shots with Nurse firing into the side netting following a Morison flick and a spell of sustained pressure ended with Bastock saving at his near post from one-time Saint Morison. Six minutes from the interval City had the audacity to try a shot of their own - an earlier effort from Sangare could hardly be described as such - but Davis, after Watters and Archer had linked up, saw his fierce effort from 20 yards charged down. Not surprisingly though it was the home side who had the final goal attempt of the half as Ronnie Henry's forward ball was headed on by Miller to Morison whose shot went a yard over the City goal.

The teams remerged for the second period unchanged, save for Slabber's shirt, with City now attacking their vocal following at the retail park end of the stadium. Whatever had been said in the respective dressing rooms seemed to have little effect on the pitch as St Albans continued to adopt the tactic of waiting until Boro keeper Alan Julian had seized up either through boredom or turning into a lump of ice before laying siege to his domain. Down in front of the home terrace temperatures were rising and within three minutes of the restart, with the ball going to and fro across the City penalty area, Binns, from a most acute angle, lashed in the kind of blistering half volley that would warm the coldest of fingers. For Bastock though there no such joy as he had to pick the ball out of his net after Binns stunning strike seared across him and into the net for his second goal in four days. Disaster, for the visitors at least, loomed large.

City's position looked seriously grave when Watters lost the ball and Slabber ran through but there once more was Elphick steaming in to clear the danger. A wave of optimism ran through City hearts on 57 minutes when a Batt foray won a free kick on the edge of the Boro penalty area. Up stepped Matt Hann and off went the ball probably into the pizza of some unsuspecting soul in the distant retail park. Boro sought to punish City for that let-off and for a while a second Stevenage goal seemed more inevitable than possible. Nurse clipped a good ball from close to the goalline into the goalmouth only for Ada to hack clear while a miscued Bastock free kick went straight to Slabber; thoughts of Halifax away flooded through ones mind as the Shaymen punished the City keeper on that occasion by sticking the ball into the Saints net. This time, however, as Morison took Slabber's pass in his stride the Boro front man kept going in a straight line as Bastock came from his goalline until he somewhat embarrassingly ran out of pitch.

The first genuine inkling that City were not there to make up the numbers came on 69 minutes with a classic break that, in effect, brought the game to life. Davis, who had a decent return to the side after his latest suspension, beat Miller and played the ball up to Hakim who, having been on the pitch just nine minutes, added fresh impetus to City's play. Hakim freed Archer and the former Stevenage trialist seemed certain to score only for Julian to enhance his reputation with a fine block in a one-on-one situation.

While the City faithful rued their ill fortune on that occasion there were real celebrations to be had a minute later when a Hann cross from the right glanced off Clarke's head to Hakim beyond the far post. Coolly the controversial substitute sent a perfect right-footed low shot across Julian and inside the keeper's left hand post. On the most recent occasion when City had previously scored at Broadhall Way in a league match their supporters danced for joy on grassy banks (1992-93), clearly some still held the desire to celebrate on such a surface and stupidly clambered from the magnificent stand behind the goal onto the pitch - it was the final piece of action they saw before being escorted out of the ground to look for Hann's free kick.

What had been a pretty dismal contest up until this point was suddenly a thriller with both sides looking to land the knockout blow, and almost against all odds it was City who did just that on 73 minutes. Other than for the arrival of Hakim, possibly with something to prove, it is hard to know what suddenly inspired City but now they attacked with genuine venom. Sangare played the ball up to Clarke who quickly sent Hann into the box, the midfielders first effort was blocked by the keeper and as the sphere ricocheted across the box Hann twisted swiftly and this time Julian pulled off an even better save high to his left with the ball dropping just beyond the back post. Boro's relief was brief as Clarke met Hann's resulting corner and beat Julian with a header that a defender on the line could only help into the side netting inside the post for Clarke's 78th goal for the Saints. The celebrations were even more manic than before as City became the highest scoring away team in the Division but at least this time the reduced number of supporters behind the goal stayed away from the playing area.

Five minutes later City looked set to score a third goal as Davis, not for the first time, headed away Miller's poor near post corner to Hann whose exquisite early pass found Archer. After moving forward the recent signing from Boreham Wood squared the ball, unfortunately it was not a perfect pass, to Hakim who stretched a bit for his shot and Julian saved with relative ease.

At last we had a real contest on our hands worthy of the fervour of a local derby and next it was Stevenage who went onto the offensive with Nurse's cross being nodded down by the giant Boro substitute, and club captain, Luke Oliver only for Morison to fire the ball against the City woodwork. Not to be outdone, seven minutes from time City did likewise. Again Davis started the quick break and in seconds the ball moved its way sweetly up the park via Hann and Hakim out to Archer who cut in from the left only for his low shot to be blocked with Clarke taking careful aim with his follow up only for it, too, to rebound away from goal off Julian's left hand upright.

With time running out Miller managed to plant one more corner onto Davis's head while a Morison volley struck Nurse although it appeared to be going wide even before striking his team-mate. Referee Ward, who had a decent game, almost lost marks from the visitors camp when allowing for an extra four minutes to be played at the end of the half, during which time Morison shot into the side netting and Beard had an effort from the edge of the box comfortably taken by Bastock while Henry was most fortunate not to see a card of any colour after crudely going through the back of Archer. The delay in dusting down Archer merely helped to wile away vital seconds - City's fifth away win of the season was in the bag.
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