12:17am Sunday 21st March 2010
By David Tavener
Paul Bastock and Adam Everitt were once again the star performers as St Albans City spluttered their way to a Blue Square South point with a goalless draw at St George’s Lane on Saturday against an attack-minded Worcester City.
New Worcester boss Carl Heeley will have been delighted with the determination his relegation threatened side displayed but a lack of goals leaves the Georgians looking anxiously at the only three sides remaining below them in the table.
That City did escape with their unbeaten run extended to a fifth match owed everything to the ageless Bastock.
St Albans have not been as impressive as recent results would suggest but for as long as Bastock, Everitt, Ryan Frater and Peter Smith keep performing to their recent high standards then the current record of six clean sheets in eight games could continue to grow.
Missing from that list of defenders was James Quilter who hardly put a foot wrong at right back but with most of Worcester’s attacking intent coming down the opposite flank the former Spurs player was able to enjoy a quiet opening half.
Just ten minutes after the restart Quilter was moved into midfield with James Fisher switched to full back. Quilter quickly made his presence felt in the middle of the park and did a good job in bolstering a department that barely had a look-in during an opening 45 minutes dominated by the home side.
The Saints were unchanged from the win over Thurrock a previous weekend and started with confidence borne of a four-match winning run. But the game turned after just three minutes and seldom looked likely to revert back in St Albans favour thereafter.
Tall striker Alfie Carter crossed low from the Worcester left to the debut making Jason Pike whose goal-bound shot was deflected out for a corner by Smith’s perfectly timed lunge.
City were barely out of their own half over the next ten minutes as Worcester became encamped inside the visitors half.
On five minutes Saints captain Frater misjudged a long punt by home keeper Danzelle St Louis Hamilton and allowed Cater to sneak goalside.
Bastock was alert to the danger and moved swiftly from his line and was able to push Carter’s close range shot out for a corner.
Jamie Price clipped the free kick into the six yard box but was missed by the stretching Carter before going out for a goalkick.
Worcester kept City pinned down with Frater heading a Carter cross away for a corner while Bastock clutched a dangerous long throw into the goalmouth by Gary Walker.
There was no let up in the early pressure on the Saints goal as Bastock dived forward to punch a Price free kick against Quilter with the ricochet going out for a corner. This time Price’s in-swinging dead ball bounced untouched across the face of the City goal.
Worcester had gained five corners during the opening 13 minutes and the threat remained as Rob Davies collected a poor clearance by Drew Roberts and passed to Carter whose touch set up Pike for an effort that went a yard wide of the diving Bastock’s right hand upright.
Home keeper St Louis Hamilton had been little more than a spectator during the early exchanges but somehow collected an injury to his upper right leg and after making one attempt to carry on was forced to make way for substitute keeper Jake Meredith on 18 minutes.
The loss of their colourfully named goalkeeper came at a time when Worcester had started to lose their early zip and it was not until after the half hour when Bastock was called back into action to collect Marc McGregor’s tame header.
An off ball altercation between Smith and McGregor ended with the home striker’s name going into referee Ian Rathbone’s notebook.
A minute from the interval Everitt, again supreme in the air in defence, stretched to reach Jake Beecroft’s clever free kick deep into the penalty area, but in so doing collided with Meredith, catching the keeper under the chin with his right knee.
Everitt immediately had seven Worcester players for company and duly collected his sixth yellow card of the season, home captain Graham Ward was also cautioned following his robust reaction to the incident.
Having caught the unfortunate Meredith there was little doubt that Everitt was in trouble but also there can be no doubt that he had every right to go for the ball as it fell midway between himself and the keeper.
Three minutes into added time Beecroft lifted City’s first corner of the match into the penalty area. A headed clearance was seized upon by Chris Sullivan who went close with a low drive from the Saints sole shot of the opening half.
The weather, damp at the start, took a turn for the worse shortly before half time with the second half kicking off under thick grey skies, rain and a cold wind.
Saints 17-year-old midfielder Rob Magwood had the first shot after the interval but his wayward effort from 25 yards was of more danger to rotund linesman Steve Cook than it was to the home goal.
Worcester, who started the day seven points clear of the relegation zone, thought a way through had been found on 50 minutes when Bastock parried a shot from Gary Walker to McGregor whose shot struck the crossbar with Carter putting the rebound into the goal. An offside flag against McGregor quickly halted the celebrations.
The second half became increasingly untidy with misplaced passes and loose control an all too frequent occurrence, but from the Saints perspective life was slightly less disconcerting as Worcester’s dominance of the midfield waned.
That said, St Albans attacking threat was still virtually zero with Roberts, in excellent form of late, in tetchy mood and a target for the home supporters ire from early on. Fellow striker James Lindie also made little headway and seldom appeared likely to open his account for the club prior to making way for Ian Dunn on 70 minutes.
Bastock continued his fine form of the opening 45 minutes with a parry and save from a McGregor header before Smith went on one of his familiar meandering runs before shooting just wide of Meredith’s right hand post from 18 yards.
Twenty minutes from time Fisher, looking far more comfortable at right back than in midfield, got in an excellent block to deny Carter a goal from close range.
Worcester continued to offer the only genuine prospect of scoring with central defender Mark Clyde flicking on a near post Price corner only for Carter to header over from inside the six yard box.
On 77 minutes St Albans finally constructed a positive attacking move that ended with Roberts playing the ball up to Quilter but instead of shooting when well placed on the edge of the penalty area he slipped it to his right to Beecroft only for the ball to pick up speed off the wet surface and roll away for a goal kick.
During a frantic final few minutes of the game Worcester charged forward desperately looking to end a run of five defeats in six games at St George’s Lane but Bastock was in no mood to surrender his third successive clean sheet.
On 84 minutes Bastock pulled off a quite wonderful block at the feet of Carter after the Worcester player had seized upon a rare lapse by Frater.
And just before the start of three minutes of added time the Saints had another let-off when a Price free kick was played back into the goalmouth by Matt Birley only for Clyde to just fail to reach the ball as it bounced into the six-yard box.
St Albans ability to snatch victory when on the back foot for much of the game, as seen in their past two home matches, almost came true once more during added time when a cross by Fisher was charged down with his second effort finding Everitt whose header hit Worcester defender Wayne Daniel on the head and looped gently into Meredith’s open arms. It was St Albans only on-target effort of the day.
Worcester City: D.St Louis Hamilton (J.Meredith 18), G.Ward, J.Price, C.Wilding, W.Daniel, M.Clyde, J.Pike (J.Quaynor 79), G.Walker, M.McGregor (M.Birley 87), A.Carter, R.Davies, subs; J.Connolly, C.Heeley.
St Albans City: P.Bastock, J.Quilter, P.Smith, R.Magwood, A.Everitt, R.Frater, J.Beecroft, J.Fisher, J.Lindie (I.Dunn 70), D.Roberts (M.Peters 83), C.Sullivan, subs; H.Wheeler, T.James, D.Johnson.
Booked: McGregor, Ward, Walker, Everitt.
Referee: Ian Rathbone (Northampton) Att: 605.
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