St Albans Match Thread

I think we might see a few changes in personnel in this game going by what Gary had to say at Wednesday's AGM.

WE need to start picking up a few points quickly, but I can't imagine it will be easy down there. My prediction is 2 each in front of a crowd of 366.

Can't see us getting anything there at the minute. We need something from someone to kick start our season. A couple of years ago Dortmund where in the dame position as us, they were inconsistent and under slight pressure, they were battered by a team away from home for 90 minutes, but scored a last minute winner they didn't lose again for 6 months. We need a moment like that, whether that be tomorrow or in a cup run. We have the talent in the squad, we just need to believe and get confidence back.

My second game of the season - I only see 4-1 wins.

Be interesting to see what changes Gary makes - I don't look at our bench and think there are players there who can make a big difference

PhilC wrote:My second game of the season - I only see 4-1 wins.

Be interesting to see what changes Gary makes - I don't look at our bench and think there are players there who can make a big difference

I'll bet that Rowey is on the bench tomorrow for one thing.

Yeah, from what Gary said at the AGM I can see that being the case. Not sure who comes in for him.

UlsterJim wrote:I think we might see a few changes in personnel in this game going by what Gary had to say at Wednesday's AGM.

Go on then - what did Gary say at the AGM?

Rowey isn't fit. Not fat, it's muscle but there is too much of it and thus can't run. He's played players out of position to accommodate him up to now, but that won't happen anymore.

I see...

Anyway, as far as the match is concerned, two teams that probably haven't lived up to expectations so far. They will be just as desperate for the win as us. We'll lose 0-2.

From St Albans website...

http://www.sacfc.co.uk/index.php/2012-04-10-18-56-53/latest-result/2332-stourbridge-preview-20-09-13.html

Bit of lazy research there - Ben Mackey scored 29 goals for us last season, apparently...

1-0 Ben

Many thanks to the Jim that is known as Ulster for fairly regular updates.

Good win is that.

Tricky Tree wrote:Many thanks to the Jim that is known as Ulster for fairly regular updates.

Albeit he didn't enter the ground until half time!

Stuck to his guns.
Fair bloody play to him

What starting eleven did we put out today and how did the new lad do?

Coleman
Wurzel-Nathan-new bloke-lloydy
Ben-fitz-Sean-drew
Will-Luke

Great result. Defended a bit desperately at times, especially in the first half, but thought we deserved it. disappointed with St. Albans though - they didn't seem to have many ideas once they got to the edge of our box. Hard to pick a man of the match - no-one had a bad game but will, Luke, Sean and Nathan all stood out. Good to see us keep two up front, and they both did well. Thought fitz did ok in the centre too, and even drew won a couple of tackles!! New bloke looked a bit shaky, but almost a clean sheet away from home isn't a bad start. Need to keep it going now.

PhilC wrote:Coleman
Wurzel-Nathan-new bloke-lloydy
Ben-fitz-Sean-drew
Will-Luke

Great result. Defended a bit desperately at times, especially in the first half, but thought we deserved it. disappointed with St. Albans though - they didn't seem to have many ideas once they got to the edge of our box. Hard to pick a man of the match - no-one had a bad game but will, Luke, Sean and Nathan all stood out. Good to see us keep two up front, and they both did well. Thought fitz did ok in the centre too, and even drew won a couple of tackles!! New bloke looked a bit shaky, but almost a clean sheet away from home isn't a bad start. Need to keep it going now.

Cheers for the info.

I'd still rather see Lloyd at right back,Will at centre half and a proper left back being brought in or Leon playing there.

Pleased to see Fitz in a central role again,i feel he's better suited to that position but Wurzel on the right and Ben on the left side IF he has to be played out wide,personally i like to see him central just behind the striker/s.

Anyway,no point being churlish after a good win but we really need to string some consecutive wins together to counteract the four losses already suffered.

I'm away for next week's cup match which is a blow and i really hope we can keep the cup run going and bring in the extra cash.

One more point - I think Gary deserves a lot of credit for playing 4-4-2 today. I think a lot of people would have said go 4-5-1 and be a bit more defensive, but Will and Luke worked their nuts off, Sean and Fitz did ok in midfield and Drew looked dangerous out wide. Onward and upwards.

Come on then slow coaches,lets have a report on yesterday's game please.

We won 2-1.

Despite our best efforts to through away a 2-0 lead four minutes into stoppage time!

Dave the Glassboy wrote:We won 2-1.

Despite our best efforts to through away a 2-0 lead four minutes into stoppage time!

As TRM appears to be on a day off can i fill in for him and point out that it's "throw" Dave.

Can't allow standards to drop even at weekends! :-]]

A much better performance , as a team we worked hard, looked determined, played some good football and were prepared to chase and challenge for every ball.
Admittedly we had to defend desperately at times and were lucky on a couple of occasions when poor finishing let them down.
The new lad had a promising debut at the back and ben looked more like the player we know he can be than he has of late.
Paul Lloyd did well at full back, and Sean did well as captain, but it would be unfair to single out any individual as this was a good team performance.
There is still a lot of improvement needed to get back to how we know we can play, but this, I hope was a significant step in right direction.

I like ST Albans , a good old fashioned ground, but £12 to get in, really! Luckily it was only £8 for seniors.
Interestingly it appeared that not only did our fab 4 get in free at half time , but 2nd half their support behind the goal seemed to grow by 20+ and became far more vocal than first half.

Sean Geddes won MotM with 7 votes, Paul Lloyd received 6, Will 3 , Ben 2 , Drew & Nathan 1 each.
Gordon Thomas won the wine.

Devil's Advocate wrote:

Dave the Glassboy wrote:We won 2-1.

Despite our best efforts to through away a 2-0 lead four minutes into stoppage time!

As TRM appears to be on a day off can i fill in for him and point out that it's "throw" Dave.

Can't allow standards to drop even at weekends! :-]]

Well spotted. Don't know what I was thinking of at the time!

TRM is away for the weekend but will deliver his verdict in due course.

(in case DA is sitting there waiting impatiently!)

Decent performance, much improved from Tuesday's first half. Still not at our best, but definitely a step in the right direction. Every player contributed and I can't say there was a weak link anywhere in the team. St Albans had a fair bit of pressure but as Phil said, they almost didn't look as though they WANTED to score - lots of balls fizzing around the box and nobody to apply the final touch. Surprised they didn't show more idea how to create chances for Frendo, a proven scorer at this level. A better, more clinical side would perhaps have punished us.

Following on from that, if I wanted to be picky we did look vulnerable once or twice down the flanks - Wurzel sometimes shows his lack of experience at right back and Lloydy understandably maybe looked a bit rusty on the left. However, both improved as the game went on. And we still lack that "shield" in front of the back four that lets teams get at us a bit too easily.

Ben took his goal well - good job because there were players well placed for a cross - and like Brian says, he looked more like his old self. Fitz looked better in the middle than out wide, and Drew had a decent game as well. Sean was the pick for me - though I thought St Albans (a lot like us in many ways) allowed him to play through not having a defensive midfielder.

Will and Luke worked better together than Luke has with Rowey. Will looks to me like a lad with a good head on his shoulders. He's young and will make mistakes, but shows a lot of promise.

Nobody's mentioned the penalty yet. Their keeper caught a long ball under a challenge from Will which for me was perfectly fair, nothing "nasty" in it and they didn't tangle on the floor or anything like that. Both players landed on their feet and I assumed the keeper would compose himself for a long kick. Instead he just kicked Will as he began to jog away - bit of a girly kick if anything. I don't think the ref saw it properly, maybe just out of the corner of his eye, but the linesman flagged straight away. The keeper got a yellow - perhaps should have been red - and Sean did the business from the spot.

Their goal set off a bit of panic and we gave away two daft free kicks in our anxiety - we should have dealt with that last minute or so a bit better, but thankfully no harm done!

The one downside is that Luke picked up his fifth booking which will mean a one-match ban. He's his own worst enemy sometimes, but every sympathy with him here. It was for dangerous play trying an overhead kick and making contact with a St Albans player. No intent, and Luke acknowledged his "crime" immediately. Definitely a free-kick but the card was ridiculous I'm afraid.

Feeling a lot more positive after that performance and result.