St Albans City closed in on a cluster a clubs at the lower end of Blue Square South on Tuesday night with a sensational victory over a Bromley side searching for a fourth straight win. From a goal down inside three minutes the Saints virtually had the game sewn up by the seventh minute with an astonishing three goals in three minutes burst. Bromley supporters have seen more goals than those of any others in Blue Square South this season and it is not difficult to see why, Mark Goldberg’s attack is outstanding where as his defence was simply caught just standing. City appeared to looking down both barrels when the excellent Sam Wood did well to drill home Danny Hockton’s bouncing cross for the opening goal on three minutes but two minutes later Lee Clarke beat Lilywhites keeper Andy Walker with a glorious header from 12 yards following deep cross by James Nash. On six minutes referee Thompson played an excellent advantage after Tutu Henriques flattened Clarke, the ball was taken on Damian Batt whose well-weighted through pass was perfectly slid past Walker by Paul Bruce to put City ahead. A disbelieving Hayes Lane crowd was completely stunned in the seventh minute as Hassan Sulaiman outstripped Peter Adeniyi and crossed low to Craig O’Connor, when his shot was blocked Clarke tried his luck but when his first effort was also blocked the City captain pounced again to put away his third goal in two games. Few noticed the bitterly cold air as Bromley began their fightback on 25 minutes when Barry Moore’s powerful free kick was superbly glanced into the visitor’s goal by skipper Francis Duku. As the game wore on City chances became increasingly rare and Nick Eyre was called upon to make excellent saves from the ever threatening Gareth McCleary and Hockton. The thrills continued to flow with Clarke and Batt going close for the Saints while a series of chances for Bromley came to nothing with the most glaring miss being Henriques remarkable scoop over the top from barely two yards out. City, having scored just four times in their previous six league matches, notched their fourth of the night on 73 minutes when Scott Cousins deep inswinging left footed corner was headed back into the goalmouth by Gary Elphick for man of the match Hasim Deen to force home his first goal for the Saints. Still Bromley refused to lay down and three minutes from time substitute, and leading scorer, Gareth Williams claimed his eighth goal of the season with a shot deflected wide of Eyre off Deen. With the otherwise excellent Hockton sending two wild efforts high into the night sky City were able to hold out for their second win of the season – both 4-3 and away from home.
Report courtesy of The St Albans & Harpenden Review |