|
|
Post by Hatboy on Aug 31, 2015 11:29:18 GMT
www.stalbanscityfc.com/hemel-hempstead-town-h-preview/It’s the big one, we welcome near neighbours and rivals Hemel Hempstead Town to Clarence Park this afternoon, as we look to finally kick start our season with victory over the side from Vauxhall Road. The Tudors have made an impressive start to the new season, picking up almost maximum points prior to their two fixtures over this Bank Holiday Weekend. Despite a number of departures and arrivals, Dean Brennan’s side have started the season in very good form. Hemel finished last season just outside the play-offs in ninth place, ten points away from the top six in their debut season at this level. However, despite that excellent final position, Hemel have seen a variety of personnel changes over the summer months. Club captain Jordan Parkes departed the club for Ebbsfleet United, and Saints fans will remember that he won Ebbsfleet’s penalty at Clarence Park just a few weeks ago. Goalkeeper Laurie Walker also departed for pastures new, as he joined Oxford City, while a variety of other players also left, including Luke Allen, who joined the Saints from the Tudors in July. Two of the more notable arrivals at Vuaxhall Road over the summer months were John Frendo and Jamal Lowe, who were with the Saints last season. Lowe has mainly featured on the bench for the Tudors so far, while Frendo has struggled to return to fitness following an injury he picked up early on in pre-season. Veteran striker Jamie Slabber also joined Brennan’s set up, and has started impressively for his new side, having scored three goals in his opening five appearances. Hemel’s first four wins from their opening six fixtures came against new boys Dartford, Essex side Chelmsford City, Weston-Super-Mare, and also Concord Rangers, who the Tudors defeated 3-0 last weekend. Their two defeats came at the hands of Maidstone United and Maidenhead United, both at Vauxhall Road and both 0-1 losses. The Saints, meanwhile, have started the season in almost completely opposite form, having picked up just one point from their opening six, and suffering five defeats in a row prior to tomorrow’s fixture. City have had one of the toughest starts to the division, facing three or four sides which could easily be competing for promotion and play-offs come the end of the season, and with a number of new arrivals this summer, the squad has not yet quite gelled like the managers would have liked. James Gray and Graham Golds have expressed their disappointment with City’s opening few weeks, and they will almost certainly be looking for a reaction this afternoon. A number of personnel changes are likely, as they look to mix things up, and attempt to find their best starting eleven. However, despite City’s early season struggles, when it comes to local derbies, form goes out the window, and the Saints will be confident that they can bring Hemel’s positive start to the season to a grinding halt at Clarence Park. A lot more than just local bragging rights are up for grabs tomorrow, so make plenty of noise Saints fans. Come On You Saints! Kick-off is 3pm. Segregation is in place, with Hemel fans having been allocated the Hatfield Road stand.
|
|
|
|
Post by Hatboy on Aug 31, 2015 11:36:10 GMT
Today's best available odds:
Basingstoke Town (52/35) Draw (13/5) Gosport Borough (11/5)
Concord Rangers (21/10) Draw (5/2) Margate (6/4)
Dartford (2) Draw (11/4) Ebbsfleet United (11/8)
Havant & Waterlooville (28/29) Draw (37/13) Eastbourne Borough (3)
Maidenhead Utd (11/12) Draw (14/5) Hayes & Yeading (16/5)
Maidstone (1) Draw (11/4) Chelmsford (29/10)
St Albans City (29/12) Draw (77/29) Hemel Hempstead (15/13)
Truro City (21/10) Draw (11/4) Oxford City (23/17)
Wealdstone (23/13) Draw (13/5) Bishop Stortford (17/11)
Weston Super Mare (49/10) Draw (33/10) Bath City (4/6)
Whitehawk (20/19) Draw (11/4) Sutton Utd (34/13)
|
|
|
|
Post by notsorecentconvert on Aug 31, 2015 16:38:33 GMT
Hemel turned up wearing the sort of kit a Sunday League team sponsored by a terrible flat-roofed pub would wear... I also couldn't work out why they had 'Turds' written on the back in Celtic script. The pattern wasn't the most flattering on the more rotund gentleman, either, as we saw when the Cabbie came on in the second half.
Onto the serious business... I'd have taken a draw before the match. I'd certainly have taken a draw at half-time and, on the balance of play, it was probably a fair result, especially as we had to play the second half without our best defender.
All in all, an entertaining game and a committed performance in which we looked a lot, lot brighter going forward than I've seen so far this season. Theo looked sharp, Krans impressed me and Sow looked very good in that deeper position.
Obviously the very early goal helped a lot and settled us down and gave us something to build on in the first half. Simon Thomas had the best game I've seen from him.
The penalty was a bit of a mystery. Even the Hemel players didn't appeal for it wholeheartedly. The sending off seemed very harsh but rules is rules and that referee sure as heck wasn't going to apply anything approaching common sense or benefit of the doubt.
We did ever so well in the second half, especially as we were a man down, and the second goal was not against the run of play, even if it was a strike out of the blue. The warning signs were there, though, and Hemel hit the bar within minutes and did have quite a bit of joy breaking us down.
Hemel bringing on Frendo did us a favour because it slowed down their attacks and meant they couldn't hit us as swiftly on the break. Unfortunately, we paid the price for not clearing the ball for their second equaliser.
After today's results, though, the table doesn't make great reading. There's already a little gap between Concord in 16th (9pts) and Truro in 17th (its). Margate and Truro are in this little group of six that have become slightly detached, as are Basingstoke. And they are our next three opponents. A huge fortnight coming up.
|
|
|
|
Post by casper on Aug 31, 2015 16:44:54 GMT
Margate lost 2-1 today away at Concord Rangers, so their poor run continues.
|
|
|
|
Post by stanj on Aug 31, 2015 19:18:01 GMT
Can someone let me know the result please  / Was it a draw? |
|
|
|
Post by PaperSaint on Aug 31, 2015 19:32:29 GMT
Saints 2 (Thomas, Krans) - Tudors 2 (Hawkins, Lowe)
We spent most of the game playing against 12 players with only 10 for the second half after Gayle was shown a straight red for... something
|
|
|
|
Post by Hatboy on Aug 31, 2015 20:15:04 GMT
The ref was a fu*%$ng joke Coms got a booking for winning the ball !, he gave them a penalty for nothing sending the player off as well, gave nothing for dangerous play when their player had his boot at head height in their box as well as numerous other dreadful decisions and just seemed to want to keep playing until they had got something out of the game ! Someone should review his game and demote him to Sunday league football.
Sorry JJ but I wouldn't admit to be related to him, that's not the first time we have had him and he has been awful every time.
After playing 10 against 12 we really deserved the win the boys played really well and a special mention to Big Bad Ben critism where it's due to the team and/or players and credit when it's due too.
The team, the managers and the fans now we were robbed.
Hopefully the confidence of the performance and stopping the rot will help us in the next four games which I believe are all games we could win.
|
|
theduke
Saints Youth Team Player
Posts: 113
|
Post by theduke on Aug 31, 2015 20:45:21 GMT
From my viewpoint it was a penalty. Gayle definitely pulled the player back, and as he was the last man he had to go.
Saying that the way we played with 10 men was superb.
|
|
|
|
Post by PaperSaint on Aug 31, 2015 20:48:56 GMT
Worst refereeing display I have seen for a very long time. There were some truly immense performances out there today and such as shame Hemel managed to grab the late equaliser - sucker punch when you've worked your socks off with 10 v 11 (and a ref who seemed intent on making sure that Hemel didn't go home empty handed). Leigh Page photos now on website www.stalbanscityfc.com/event/st-albans-city-vs-hemel-hempstead-town/ |
|
|
|
Post by PaperSaint on Aug 31, 2015 20:51:06 GMT
Doesn't matter if you are the last man if the opponent not in a goal scoring position - he wasn't in my view going to get the ball as it was going comfortably into the arms of Welch.
|
|
|
|
Post by Boomer on Aug 31, 2015 21:01:45 GMT
This was a terrific performance by the Saints, full of pace and movement, which deserved so much more and had Simon Thomas, as he should have done, put us 2-0 up early on, we would almost certainly have received our just desserts. The whole match was turned on its head in 45th minute with the very harsh sending off of Ian Gayle, which appeared to be nothing more than a case of 'handbags'. As a result, when the players came out for the 2nd half, the atmosphere from the 1st had totally dissipated and I think I can say that most supporters feared the worst. Kevin Krans, however, had other ideas and hit a stunning strike to put us ahead, which unfortunately was nullified by Jamal's late equaliser.
The referee today, Mr. Christopher O'Donnell was truly awful. He has officiated a number of times at Clarence Park and, for me, he has never once impressed. Mr O'Donnell needs to understand that it is the job of both sets of players to entertain the crowd and it is not for him to try and steal the show. He has history in this respect as shown in recent games at Billericay, Leamington and Hampton & Richmond apart from a number of his earlier games at CP. I don't know exactly how many cards he brandished today but it was several and it was never a dirty game in any shape or form. The rule of thumb here is if you don't notice the referee, he is probably doing a decent job and is control of the game. Mr. O'Donnell - please take note.
Time to move on now to Margate and really looking forward to it.
COYS!
|
|
|
|
Post by PaperSaint on Aug 31, 2015 21:10:08 GMT
Agreed Boomer - and we nearly nicked it right at the end even after Jamal had equalised for Hemel. An electrifying move - as ever involving Krans - resulted in the ball falling to Chappell but he sliced his shot wide. If it had gone in that would have been justice and importantly would have taken some of the limelight away from the awful Mr O'Donnell
|
|
theduke
Saints Youth Team Player
Posts: 113
|
Post by theduke on Aug 31, 2015 21:22:01 GMT
Doesn't matter if you are the last man if the opponent not in a goal scoring position - he wasn't in my view going to get the ball as it was going comfortably into the arms of Welch. My view was level with play, and I thought he would've been in a goal scoring position if he hadn't been pulled back. Its a game of opinions. |
|
|
|
Post by PaperSaint on Aug 31, 2015 21:26:57 GMT
Totally agree - hopefully the post match videos will give us a better insight into the incident
|
|
|
|
Post by COYS on Aug 31, 2015 21:36:18 GMT
Agree with everything said so far. Top performance, same guts we showed vs Gosport at Clarence Park last season but with added quality I reckon. To a man every single player stood up, not one poor performance. Shame the same can't be said for the referee. It's not like he can even be accused of bias; he was simply inept across the board. Attention-seeking characters like him should be nowhere near a referee's whistle in my opinion (that's not a comment on the Gayle decision though - I had next to no view of that at all).
Despite the fact we conceded a last-minute equaliser and are still looking for our first three points, we left CP feeling buoyant. Here's hoping we've turned a corner & those 3 points will come at Margate. Don't see why they can't.
|
|
|
|
Post by stalbanandy on Aug 31, 2015 21:53:26 GMT
I think we created more chances today than in any other game this season. Is it really a coincidence that we played 2 up front and also had Jack and Sow starting and Scott Thomas wasn't playing (I am really struggling to see what he brings to the party, like Blondy last year! what was his name again?). Still want to see Lewis on right mid!!
Credit where it is due and I have been critical of Big Ben this season but after being caught for pace early on against Jamal he was immense from then on. I cant help feeling that dropping him for a couple of games has given him a kick up the backside that perhaps he needs! Come on Ben, give us that every week.
The penalty and sending off was very dubious at best. Like probably 99% of the people in the ground I was watching the ball fall harmlessly into Joe's arms and waiting for a quick breakaway by us but JJ's brother obviously saw something that not many did. Out of the corner of my eye it was six of one and half a dozen of another. Their guy was never going to get the ball so why not just have a word with Gayle and just say 'be careful, next time I'm going to react'
Was pleased for Simon T as he holds the ball up well and never seems to lose a header whereas Louie relies on service which isn't happening at present.
Overall a lot better performance and hopefully the belief and camaraderie has improved 300% rather than the dispirited lot that left the pitch at Chelmsford. COYS
|
|
|
|
Post by Saint on Aug 31, 2015 21:57:51 GMT
Re the goal, watched the video after match with Jimmy, who very much believed Oli went easily (Oli was falling before the contact even came), and also there was a general agreement that it wasn't a red as the ball Welch had the ball practically in his hands before Oli fell.
|
|
|
|
Post by PaperSaint on Aug 31, 2015 22:05:37 GMT
That was the point I was making Saint - from right behind the goal, Welch was collecting the ball and Oli went to ground but after what looked a run of the mill tussle. If it was a penalty, it wasn't a red card as Oli wasn't going to get the ball
|
|
|
|
Post by COYS on Aug 31, 2015 22:13:03 GMT
That was the point I was making Saint - from right behind the goal, Welch was collecting the ball and Oli went to ground but after what looked a run of the mill tussle. If it was a penalty, it wasn't a red card as Oli wasn't going to get the ball Don't want to comment before I've seen the replay, but these "run of the mill tussles" irritate me beyond belief. How hard is it for defenders to keep their hands off forwards, especially in the box? Gives a referee like O'Donnell an easy excuse to demand the spotlight and give a pen. |
|
|
|
Post by citycentresaint on Aug 31, 2015 22:18:38 GMT
Ref was an embarrassing today.
Without proper officials makes a mockery of the league.
I wouldn't trust him to referee an U9's game.
Hopefully he will be demoted to this kind of level in order to develop his understanding of the game.
Cost us 3 points.
|
|
|
|
Post by PaperSaint on Aug 31, 2015 22:22:05 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by COYS on Aug 31, 2015 23:07:30 GMT
COYS - by 'run of the mill tussle' I mean more that the forward was giving as much as the defender gave - but I really need to see the video Fair - to use the cliche, it is quite often "six of one." |
|
|
|
Post by PaperSaint on Sept 1, 2015 10:19:34 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by gertchaefm on Sept 1, 2015 10:27:07 GMT
Even putting the penalty and sending off decision to one side that was the worst referring performance I have seen in years. A lot of Sunday referees would put in a better performance than that. I know it is a tough job and the game relies on the officials but he ruined the game today.
As someone put is spot on in an earlier post, if you don't notice the referee, he is probably doing a decent job
|
|
|
|
Post by minty on Sept 1, 2015 10:45:24 GMT
The referee we had yesterday has previously had poor games in charge of our matches.
|
|
|
|
Post by davymac55 on Sept 1, 2015 11:10:43 GMT
Firsly,it was a penalty. No question. It was never a red card. 9 times out of ten its never given/seen
The referee? well, it was all about him. Some truly unbelievable decisions and not for the first time have had cause to question his ability.
Second. Conceding goals at the end of half/game continues to damn us. Thought we should have gone 441 with ten men but didn't look like it. Row Z please. This aint Premier League.
Two clear chances first half to put game to bed and neither on target!(the post is off target).
We looked better but to be honest I don't think Hemel were any great shakes and whilst one point with ten players is good , it should have been three. When you are languishing at bottom of table it has to be viewed as two points dropped- only 2/21. So we need to be getting similar effort but better finishing for the next month as end of September will see 25% of season over.
Still too many misplaced passes/poor dead balls etc. Get the basics sorted out.
and maybe Ben was better today but lets be honest, the baseline was set low and there was still plenty of inconsistency in his play.
Jamal took his chance well, sadly, and John didn't really threat thankfully.
So on to Margaret and lets hope their poor run continues- we are badly in need of a confidence boosting victory as they are. Early season relegation dogfight? COYS
COYS
|
|
|
|
Post by COYS on Sept 1, 2015 11:19:03 GMT
Second. Conceding goals at the end of half/game continues to damn us. Thought we should have gone 441 with ten men but didn't look like it. Disagree with the comment re 441. Think Gray & Golds deserve a hell of a lot of credit for leaving two forwards on the pitch for the second half. It was brave and that idea of not hiding worked its way into the players' mentality. It allowed us to stay on the front foot for the majority of the second half instead of sitting back and waiting for Hemel to take the lead. |
|
|
|
Post by davymac55 on Sept 1, 2015 13:07:41 GMT
Perhaps COYS> However, when you are devoid of anyone controlling midfield as Ram used to do, having got in front , leaving two up top leaves gaps elsewhere and teams better than Hemel would exploit more. And whilst it was 'brave', we conceded, again, late on and lost two points. we weren't chasing the game so the logic is somewhat lost on me.
|
|
|
|
Post by Boomer on Sept 1, 2015 13:09:02 GMT
Firstly, it was a penalty. No question. It was never a red card. 9 times out of ten its never given/seen. I can't agree. If that was a penalty, we would be seeing 8-10 penalties in every single game. It was nothing more than a straightforward tussle between attacker and defender in the penalty area, which Oli made look ten times worse than it actually was. I've seen attackers yellow carded for diving for less. As for it being a red card, it is too ridiculous for words. In fact, the incident between Oli and Martin just before was more worthy of a foul. A joke decision. |
|
|
|
Post by PaperSaint on Sept 1, 2015 13:46:56 GMT
Looking at the video clip - to me its a tussle between Gayle and Oli followed by a dive to the floor by Oli
|
|
/ Was it a draw?
