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03.10.2009 at 15:00 Woodspring Stadium

Attendance : 218

Weston Super Mare

2 - 3

St Albans City

Referee : Adam Bromley (Plympton) Blue Square South

Goalscorers
Jack Compton (30)
James Quilter (O.G. 84)
Luke Thurlbourne (21)
Gary Cohen (60)
Solomon Shields (75)
Opening squads
Kevin Sayer
Mike Green
Tom Parrinello
Adie Harris
Tom Evans
Clayton Fortune
Scott Bartlett
Darren Mullings
Ashan Holgate
Ben Joyce
Jack Compton
Paul Bastock
Alex Bailey
Luke Thurlbourne
Adam Everitt
Ryan Frater
James Quilter
Gary Cohen
Solomon Shields
David Galbraith
Justin Clayton
James Fisher
Substitutes
Marc McGregor
John Llewellyn (62)
Ben Wells (77)
Marvin Brown
Ross Stearn (62)
Michael Emery
Mark Peters
Godfrey Poku
Daniel Chillingworth
Jonathan O'Donnell
Substitutions
Ross Stearn -> Ben Joyce (62)
John Llewellyn -> Scott Bartlett (62)
Ben Wells -> Adie Harris (77)
Jonathan O'Donnell -> David Galbraith (57)
Mark Peters -> Ryan Frater (84)
Yellow cards
None None.
Red cards
None None.
Match report
St Albans City put their miserable FA Cup exit behind them on Saturday to record a highly satisfactory 3-2 Blue Square South victory at the Woodspring Stadium over fellow strugglers Weston-super-Mare.

City’s second successive away league win, and third Conference South match undefeated, lifts Steve Castle’s side to the dizzy heights of 15th in the table and a welcome six points clear of the relegation zone.

It may still be relatively early days in the campaign but with consecutive wins over Weymouth and now Weston-super-Mare the Saints suggest they should have enough about them to avoid getting sucked into serious trouble.

In addition to the final score there were several pleasing aspects to the day from Castle’s point of view. After a couple of quiet games Luke Thurlbourne bounced back to form and capped his performance with his first goal for the club while the again outstanding Solomon Shields netted his second in successive league games.

But the biggest relief was felt by Gary Cohen as the striker found the target for the first time in 20 games and the first time away from Clarence Park since last December.

Castle gave a debut to Justin Clayton and the teenage central defender, standing in for the experienced Mark Peters, did more than enough to justify his manager’s faith in him.

James Fisher returned to the midfield after completing a two-match ban while Alex Bailey, back after a short illness, played in an attacking right-sided position.

The Seagulls boosted their attacking options with the addition of striker Ben Joyce on loan from Torquay United.

The weather is rarely kind to City on their annual visits to this corner of Somerset and a swirling wind greeted the side for their fifth trip to the Woodspring Stadium, fortunately the pitch was in excellent condition.

City’s fifth visit to Waterspring Road could have got off to a disastrous start when Jack Compton, after getting round James Quilter, fell to the ground as the City right back stumbled into him. Referee Adam Bromley, described by Castle as ‘excellent’ waved aside penalty appeals.

Although goal scoring opportunities were rare it was the Somerset club that enjoyed the better of the early exchanges only for City to open the scoring on 21 minutes.

Cohen, some eight yards out, stooped to head a cross from Fisher onto the crossbar. As the ball dropped off the woodwork Cohen then challenged home keeper Kevin Sawyer which led to the ball going just to the side of the six-yard box where Thurlbourne hammered a shot inside Sawyer’s near, left-hand, upright.

The lead was held for just nine minutes until Compton, fortunate to avoid a yellow card for a kick on Quilter and three times kicking the ball away as City waited to take free kicks, beat Paul Bastock with a beautifully executed 25 yards free kick that flew high to the keepers left and just inside the post.

Two further Compton free kicks caused some concern for the City defence, the second deflecting just wide of the target.

Five minutes from the interval Joyce gave a taster of what Weston supporters can expect during his three months on loan as he lashed a half volley just over the target from 25 yards following Darren Mullings knock down.

Both sides had chances to snatch a late interval lead, perhaps the best of which came the way of City skipper Ryan Frater who just failed to get a firm contact to David Galbraith’s in-swinging left-footed corner.

Bastock had to be alert to ensure City went in on level terms as he raced from his penalty area to whack the ball clear when Joyce appeared favourite to reach the sphere.

To the delight of the handful of City supporters to have travelled west Jonathan O’Donnell was sent into action on 57 minutes in place of Galbraith. The 17-year-old may not have had a direct influence on the outcome but the addition of his enthusiasm and attacking intent brought new life and energy to the Saints left flank.

St Albans regained the lead on the hour with possibly the best goal of the game and probably the most welcome goal of Cohen’s career as it ended a gap of 1,652 minutes since his last strike.

Frater, standing inside the centre circle in the Weston half of the pitch, launched a long diagonal pass out to Bailey who brought the ball down and cut inside before guiding a low pass into the penalty area for Cohen to slide the ball low to left of the diving Sawyer.

Midway through the half Clayton, who had a most satisfactory debut, suffered his only serious blip when losing possession to the very lively Josh Llewellyn who then saw his path to goal closed by Frater’s perfectly timed tackle.

Andy Gurney’s side, now playing into the wind, maintained the pressure with a header by Holgate that deflected goalwards off the head of Clayton but was comfortably gathered by Bastock, while a low cross by Compton was flicked over the bar by Llewellyn.

City looked to have pretty much settled the outcome on 75 minutes with a most bizarre goal.

Sawyer, the somewhat amply framed Seagulls keeper, missed a cross from Fisher on the Saints right. The ball struck O’Donnell on the side of the head before rebounding away from the goal off Sawyer’s head to Shields who neatly stepped inside Ross Stearn and hammered a fine effort inside the keeper’s right hand post for the third City goal.

Instead of a two-goal cushion being the signal for the game to pass away quietly the play, if anything, became more open and Quilter caused a flutter when misdirecting headed clearance against his own crossbar.

City hit back with Cohen giving chase to a long clearance and causing Sawyer to fumble the ball before a defender hacked it to safety.

Bastock, well-known for the verbal ‘encouragement’ he offers his team mates, was booked for swearing on 79 minutes and five minutes later had good cause to utter a few choice words when Quilter, having misjudged the angle of Compton free kick, headed into his own net from 15 yards to set up a tense finish.

St Albans demeanour during the six minutes of normal time and six and a half minutes of added time was confusing.

On a couple of occasions they looked willing to extend their lead – O’Donnell had a curling effort easily saved by Sawyer while Shields sent a scorching drive just over the target – and on others they opted for an ugly time wasting game.

Cohen, clearly buoyed by his goal, put pressure on Weston defender Clayton Fortune – a former colleague of Quilter’s in the Tottenham Hotspur Youth team – who did well to clear his lines while Llewellyn was denied by Frater for a second time.

Frater’s timely intervention came at some cost as the City defender twisted his right ankle in the process and had to be replaced by Peters.

Weston had one final chance to salvage a point when a long throw from the left by Tom Evans was helped on by Fortune to the unmarked Llewellyn who blotted his otherwise impressive copybook by looping a header comfortably over the City goal.

St Albans are without a fixture next Saturday, 10 October, which should allow ample time for Ryan Frater to recover from his twisted ankle for the visit of league leaders Newport County to Clarence Park on the 17th. But City will be without Luke Thurlbourne as the midfielder serves a one-match ban.
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