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Post by PaperSaint on Nov 10, 2015 8:28:23 GMT
This Saturday, we welcome Wealdstone FC (‘The Stones’) to Clarence Park for our National League South home fixture. Kick off 3.00pm. In this time of remembrance, St Albans City Football Club would like to offer all past and present members of the armed forces 25% off a match ticket for our game with Wealdstone FC on production of their appropriate ID. www.stalbanscityfc.com/saints-vs-stones/ |
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Post by notsorecentconvert on Nov 11, 2015 9:33:45 GMT
This is a hugely important game, especially as Havant & Waterlooville pulled off a surprise win at Oxford City last night.
Even if we win on Saturday, we'll be in the bottom three on Saturday night. Defeat and if results go against us and we could be seven points adrift of safety, albeit with a game in hand.
The next nine are all very winnable and our recent form is perhaps not as bad as the league table suggests, but the pressure wills start to increase pretty rapidly if we don't start winning in the league.
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Post by PaperSaint on Nov 11, 2015 9:42:37 GMT
Yes, Havant signed two loan players yesterday - Theo Lewis from Ebbsfleet who got a red card on his debut and former Saint Godfrey Poku from Woking who scored a hat-trick. Havant were always expected to start using their money to get out of trouble...
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Post by casper on Nov 12, 2015 9:27:56 GMT
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Post by stonesgoals on Nov 12, 2015 14:23:58 GMT
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Post by PaperSaint on Nov 12, 2015 15:40:21 GMT
Saints win now up to 25% and Stones win down to 47%....
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Post by harpendenstone on Nov 13, 2015 13:06:59 GMT
...Which illuminates just how pointless these 'prediction' threads are. As if they could influence the game! We had a terrific win at Clarence Park last season that could have gone either way... Indications are that we'll have around 250-300 fans at the Park again tomorrow so it should be a cracking atmosphere, with maybe close to 1,000 bearing in mind there are no Prem or Championship games to distract the floaters. A fascinating clash...
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Post by casper on Nov 13, 2015 23:53:25 GMT
Hope a minutes silence is held before the game after the events in Paris tonight.
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Post by Saint on Nov 14, 2015 15:33:53 GMT
1-0 up, Ben Martin.
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Post by Saint on Nov 14, 2015 15:47:20 GMT
HT: 1-0
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Post by Saint on Nov 14, 2015 15:50:01 GMT
Martin goal:
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Post by Saint on Nov 14, 2015 16:09:12 GMT
ATT: 708
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Post by Saint on Nov 14, 2015 16:51:59 GMT
FULL-TIME: Saints 1-0 Wealdstone.
Could be an important victory.
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Post by Hatboy on Nov 14, 2015 16:52:30 GMT
FT 1-0 massive win
Havant won again but Margate and Hayes both got stuffed
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Post by dunstablesaint on Nov 14, 2015 18:40:49 GMT
Well done Saints. Not a classic but three points and a clean sheet are not to be sniffed at, even if against a weakfish side. Again, Comley looked a class above. I thought everybody worked hard and we got a good team win. I was impressed with Meade's energy and combativeness when he came on. No Locke on the bench - was he injured? I hope we are not going to risk losing him because we are not playing him.
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Post by Boomer on Nov 14, 2015 18:49:36 GMT
Darren was suspended for today's game due to 5 yellow cards.
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Post by casper on Nov 14, 2015 19:05:38 GMT
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Post by notsorecentconvert on Nov 14, 2015 19:06:29 GMT
Well, it wasn't pretty at times but that was such an important win. Still not out of the bottom three, of course, but defeat would have left us in real trouble.
It was a competitive game, and scrappy at times, with lots of commitment and even more errors. Wealdstone had the best of the first 20 minutes, I thought, and the number of times Ben Martin miscued a clearance or misjudged the bounce or flight of the ball had me worried. Wealdstone could have scored in that spell but we always looked half-decent on the break.
Martin did come into the game and he won a lot in the air and dealt with the big, physical threat of their number nine very well. The goal was terrific too. One of those headers that was going in the minute it left his forehead.
Comley looks very good at centre half. It's the first time I've seen him there. His pace, his reading of the game and his use of the ball were all excellent. My worry was that his tendency to dive in and give away free kicks might be really costly in defensive positions, especially in the box, but he cut that out of his game completely, showing what a good player he is. I just wish he'd stop wasting his time and energy getting at the referee. It looks bad, it winds up the opposition in a way that's not helpful and it's just not very bright.
Good to see Corcoran back, although he's clearly off the pace a bit. He was late with a number of tackles and his passing was sometimes off but he's definitely a welcome return.
I've seen quite a bit of criticism of Thomas on this forum and today's the first time I've really seen him. I thought he played well today. People had a go at Charlie Gorman last year for the same reason. Neither of them are as good, or as pleasing to watch as Ram Marwa but then again we're playing a division higher. Thomas does the ugly, unspectacular work well. He goes for the ball when he's not favourite to win it. He breaks up the play, he gets in the way of the opposition, and he gives the ball simply, most of the time.
I thought Crawford was impressive, working really hard all across the front line. This meant Theo seemed to play deeper than I've seen him, perhaps so he didn't get stuck trying to be the target man and could perhaps break through using his pace. He's always better running onto the ball or running at goal with it than playing with his back to a big centre half. But he looked out of sorts today. Was he carrying a knock? He seemed to be running a bit gingerly and winced a few times after a sprint or when stretching for the ball.
Nunn was good too – an improvement on JK, I think. Monty looks class and was very unfortunate to be replaced. I thought he posed the greatest threat. The two subs who came on looked very bright, especially Meade.
Yes, we played with fire at times, rode our luck a bit, but we dug in and defended as a team and fought for the points, which was really pleasing to see. Once we'd taken the lead, the hesitancy and nervousness in our play eased too.
Credit to Wealdstone for bringing so many noisy fans. Not often we have that sort of atmosphere at the Park. But crikey some of them are a hard-done-by, paranoid lot, seeing conspiracy and bias in every decision by the officials!
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Post by casper on Nov 14, 2015 19:08:26 GMT
Agree that Meade had a good debut. Someone running at pace against the opposition is something we have been lacking this season.
3 points were more important than the performance today in a scrappy game not helped by the weather.
Feel we are a much better side with Corcoran in midfield.
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barker
Saints Youth Team Player
Posts: 135
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Post by barker on Nov 14, 2015 19:09:54 GMT
Gritty performance. Considering the weather I thought we tried to play some good passing football for periods of the game. Defence looked better than it has done recently. Difficult to judge Wealdstone - they started really well but then seemed to lose shape. Both sides weak in front of goal. Good to have a bit of atmosphere and banter between fans.
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ebsacfc
Saints Reserve Team Player
Posts: 256
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Post by ebsacfc on Nov 14, 2015 20:41:16 GMT
I thought that was a good solid performance today. Apart from Krans every player put in a decent performance.
A word on the Wealdstone fans; what a horrible bunch they were, saw plenty of parents bringing their kids away from the coca-cola stand after feeling intimidated. Sad thing was they were mainly fully grown men.
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Post by PaperSaint on Nov 14, 2015 21:21:39 GMT
Was surprised Krans played given his family are from Paris and I'm aware he was still trying to make contact this morning
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Post by ad43footsoldier on Nov 14, 2015 21:38:11 GMT
I thought that was a good solid performance today. Apart from Krans every player put in a decent performance. A word on the Wealdstone fans; what a horrible bunch they were, saw plenty of parents bringing their kids away from the coca-cola stand after feeling intimidated. Sad thing was they were mainly fully grown men. What did they do...? Their language was blue, but it's the football. I saw lots of people moving from the Cola stand after it stopped raining... |
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ebsacfc
Saints Reserve Team Player
Posts: 256
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Post by ebsacfc on Nov 14, 2015 22:18:32 GMT
I didn't realise that about Krans, best wishes to him.
The behaviour of the wealdstone fans was generally intimidating and unpleasent. Over the top use of abuse language mainly, would've expected better from middle aged men.
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Post by citycentresaint on Nov 15, 2015 1:34:20 GMT
The Wealdstone firm is run by the 'Wealdstone Raider.'
With such an infamous top boy, it is hardly surprising that they are an intimidating bunch.
I imagine lots of Millwall fans would be too scared to step foot in Wealdstone.
Great win today.
Hopefully we can build on this.
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barker
Saints Youth Team Player
Posts: 135
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Post by barker on Nov 15, 2015 9:49:43 GMT
Wealdstone fans. There was some occasional swearing - but I've heard worse at many, many football matches. I didn't hear or see anyone abuse or deliberately intimidate any City fans.
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Post by casper on Nov 15, 2015 11:27:38 GMT
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Post by EFMTFTV on Nov 15, 2015 13:00:38 GMT
This means our 4 wins this season vs teams in our league (3 league 1FA cup) came against the teams 18th,19th, 21st and 22nd
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Post by bob666 on Nov 15, 2015 14:20:11 GMT
As others have said we looked very committed and solid defensively. A key issue is whether we can maintain defensive solidity while offering a bit more going forward. Other than the goal (which was scored when a Wealdstone defender was off the pitch) I don't recall us making any clear cut chances- granted the same can be said of Wealdstone. Another, maybe minor thing, I thought we picked up some needless booking in the second half with pointless fouls.
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Post by stalbanandy on Nov 15, 2015 19:45:36 GMT
I stood close to the Wealdstone fans in the Coca cola throughout the first half and saw nothing intimidating at all. A couple of stupid swear comments were made to the officials and Saints supporters close by but I put that down to lack of intelligence of the persons concerned rather than intimidation.
Agree with many comments here. Scott Thomas, my favourite target, actually did what he was bought for for the first time! He actually broke up play and passed to a yellow shirt. This is a first as he has been so wasteful in previous games. Lets hope this is not a false dawn.
Ben was a big worry in the first 20 mins with two or three miskicks but he went from strength to strength, scored a great goal and eventually vied for MOTM with Coms.
Also agree with Corkers. He didn't have his best game but has an uncanny habit of actually controlling a ball and passing to a player in the same coloured shirt. Thought he was fortunate not to get a yellow card before he did and it was good management to take him off before the ref produced the claret card.
Not sure about Crawford. cant fault his effort but for a player coming down a league from The Wood I expected more composure and quality.
The lad Meade made a real impact and is just the sort of quick feeted player we have desperately needed.
Onwards and Upwards!
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