Kings dethroned as Gomez double sends City to Luton (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Kings dethroned as Gomez double sends City to Luton

2:16am Tuesday 12th October 2010 in Sport By David Tavener

Pelayo Gomez did more than become the first Spaniard to score for St Albans City with his brace sending Kingstonian crashing out of the FA Cup on Monday for he also secured a potentially life-saving money-spinning FA Cup 4th Round Qualifying tie with neighbours Luton Town on 23 October.

Looking at the strapping teenager from Marbella, who is currently with the Saints on work experience from Brentford, it is hard to believe he is just 17-years-old and his finishing in front of a disappointingly small, though vocal crowd, at Kingsmeadow displayed a maturity far beyond his tender years.

As had been anticipated, City manager Steve Castle brought in Moses Odubajo in place of Sean Shields from Saturday’s drawn match at Clarence Park but, unexpectedly, also replaced striker Jean-Michel Sigere with Robbie Martin. Castle felt that two matches in three days would be too demanding for the experienced Frenchman Sigere.

The Saints boss can certainly feel pleased with his tinkering as Odubajo was a menace to the home defence down the City left flank while Martin, particularly during the second half, was a highly influential figure.

Kings manager Alan Dowson, understandably, went with the XI that performed so well at the weekend but on this occasion his side struggled to repeat that form and it was not until the closing stages that the visitors were put under any sustained pressure.

Whereas Kingstonian were out of the blocks at a remarkable rate on Saturday this time it was City who looked the dominant force early on and within four minutes Adam Martin, who was in fine fettle, chested down a David Deeney cross before firing the ball into the back of the net only to be pulled back for handball.

A minute later Gomez won the first corner with a low shot that was deflected wide. It was just the positive start City needed and, certainly up until half time, the K’s appeared a shadow of the side that played at St Albans.

The positive nature of City’s play continued with Gomez feeding Adam Martin who skipped through a couple of challenges and crossed low into the penalty area with home keeper Rob Tolfrey doing well to dive forward and collect safely.

Only ten minutes had passed when Gomez controlled a short pass from Robbie Martin and drove a low effort along the ground and a couple of yards wide of the target.

City’s early dominance was rewarded on 17 minutes when Gomez scored a wonderful goal. City captain Ryan Frater ignored loud Kingstonian appeals for a penalty for handball as he tried to control a bouncing ball and launched a long clearance that saw Gomez receive an arm into his mouth.

Possible irked by that the teenager battled to gain possession and cut inside onto his left foot and from 20 yards beat Tolfrey with a splendid curling effort high beyond the keeper’s outstretched right arm.

St Albans continued to keep a grip on the midfield that eluded them at the weekend and on 32 minutes midfielder James Fisher ought to have doubled the Saints lead. Gomez slipped a perfect pass through the middle of the home backline but Fisher, with the ball maybe just tucked just too tightly under his feet, slotted a tame shot comfortably wide.

The home goal had another let off when Adam Martin dispossessed Jean-Sylvain Dossou and played the ball out to Odubajo who darted in from the City left before sending a clean strike just wide of Tolfrey’s right hand upright.

Odubajo gave a flash of his intricate close skills when skipping around two defenders in a tight space before drilling a low cross into the goalmouth that Tolfrey again did well to hold cleanly.

A minute later Peter Smith set off on one his trademark weaving runs but when he looked to play the ball out to Odubajo it took a ricochet into the penalty area off a defender and Robbie Martin reacted quickly to lift the loose ball over the stranded Tolfrey only for it to bounce out for a goalkick off the top of the crossbar.

The first threat to City’s dominance came on 42 minutes when Dossou played the ball out to Dean Lodge whose low cross from the left picked out the completely unmarked Bobby Traynor but before the K’s leading marksman could add to his tally Bastock was out superbly to block the shot and City scrambled the ball out for a corner.

Suddenly Kingstonian were a different proposition and Matt Gray, having virtually run the show at Clarence Park, at last began making presence felt here and combined with Dean Hamlin to win a corner off Smith.

Even so, it was still something of a surprise when the Ks restored parity right on half time but that it came from the penalty spot should not have been that surprising given the erratic performance of Russian referee Olexandr Saliy.

Adam Martin lost possession in the middle of the City half – Castle later admitted that he had expected the ball to be put to safety at the back of the stand – and quickly Hamlin played the ball wide to Traynor whose low cross clipped the fingers of the extended Paul Bastock before reaching Lodge.

The Kingstonian striker sought to nip back in front of the goal but was caught by the outstretched leg of Fisher. Traynor waited for the City protest to abate before sending Bastock the wrong way to convert his ninth goal of the season. There was barely time to kick off before the half time whistle blew.

St Albans were forced to make a change during the interval due to Mark Peters suffering a shin injury accidently inflicted by team-mate Deeney. In place of Peters stepped Ben Martin, which ensured there would be minimal disruption to the City defence.

City were soon back into their stride after the break and when a free kick was partially cleared Hassan Sulaiman sent the loose ball back towards the home goal where Tolfrey saved.

Having received a huge psychological boost just prior to the interval the K’s almost went ahead soon after the restart when Lodge went on a dangerous run into the penalty area before losing his footing but somehow getting the ball into the path of Tom Bird whose low shot was cleared from close to the goalline by Ben Martin.

Now the game looked to be opening up and City counter-attacked with Adam Martin outwitting his defender and crossing into the goalmouth where the diving Fisher just failed to make contact.

Kingstonian responded with a sumptuous near post corner by Gray being flicked on by Lodge and across the face of the visitor’s goal.

The Surrey side, now lodgers to AFC Wimbledon despite Kingsmeadow originally being Kingstonian’s home ground, should have taken the lead on the hour when Tobi Jinadu allowed Adam Thompson to get goalside of Ben Martin. But the Kings skipper wastefully shot early and wide when he had time to get into a better position.

But Kingstonian were now starting to build some momentum and Thompson again went close, this time with a back post header following Gray’s well-flighted free kick from the K’s left.

With 20 minutes remaining City made their second change with Sulaiman replaced by Sigere, a move that led to Fisher dropping to right back, a position from which he made several crucial blocks.

Two minutes later and City had their noses out in front for a second time and again it was a piece of high quality finishing.

Gomez collected a headed pass from Sigere and after receiving a generous rebound on the edge of the penalty area off a defender displayed clinical assurance in simply sliding the ball to the left of Tolfrey as he became the first City player in six years to score twice in an FA Cup tie.

Now Kingstonian looked to be finished and 11 minutes from time Odubajo picked up a free kick from Deeney and from right on the goalline curled the ball across the face of the goal and agonisingly wide of the far post.

But far from having given up, Kingstonian set up a thrilling finale with a succession of attacks on the City goal. Bastock punched a Gray free kick out for a corner and followed that by masterly clutching Dossou’s in-swinging corner.

However, even with two minutes to go City still looked to be seeing the tie out in relative comfort until, at the start of added time, Lodge went on a powerful run wide of the City defence before coming inside where his shot, heading for the far corner of the goal, was blocked by Fisher for a corner.

From Gray’s corner substitute Carl-Wilson-Denis, on the edge of the six yard box, knocked the ball downwards and Bastock just managed to flick it onto the roof of the net as it rose sharply up off the immaculate playing surface. City’s goalmouth was becoming increasingly congested with K’s keeper Tolfrey adding his frame to the masses.

This time Bird’s corner on the Kings right went deep across the penalty area to Gray whose low drive through a forest of legs clipped a boot of a City player and went out for another corner.

Tolfrey stayed forward as his side won two free kicks but City held firm to secure their first ever meeting in a competitive encounter with neighbours Luton Town.

While the City players will be looking forward to a trip to Kenilworth Road with great anticipation the cash-strapped Saints, who are still awaiting the outcome of an investigation by the FA into alleged illegal payments to players, are already the counting the prize money collected from getting through two rounds of the FA Cup.

To date City have pocketed £12,000 in prize money – which is received two weeks after the previous round - and conservative estimates suggest the club will be looking at picking up possibly around £20,000 in gate receipts at Luton, not to mention the incentive of a further £12,500 for beating Luton.

Kingstonian: R.Tolfrey, D.Hamlin (S.Clayton 89), T.Bird, A.Thompson, M.Hustwick, T.Jinadu, M.Gray, JS Dossou, (C.Wilson-Denis 80), B.Traynor, D.Lodge, L.Hall, subs; B.Alimi, M.Harkin, N.Taylor, S.Robinson.

St Albans City: P.Bastock, D.Deeney, P.Smith, A.Martin, M.Peters (B.Martin 46), R.Frater, H.Sulaiman (JM Sigere 70), J.Fisher, R.Martin, P.Gomez, M.Odubajo (D.Roberts 89), subs; R.Dedman, R.Magwood, S.Shields, I.Effiong.

Goals: 17 0-1 Gomez, 45 1-1 Traynor (pen), 72 1-2 Gomez.

Referee: Olexandr Saliy (London).

Att: 367.