Point made as City tame Beavers

10:56pm Thursday 1st January 2009

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There were mixed blessing for St Albans City on New Years Day as the satisfaction of holding promotion candidates Hampton & Richmond Borough to a goalless draw at the Beveree was offset by results elsewhere extending the gap between the Saints and the Blue Square South play off places.

But at the end of 90 competitive, though often scrappy, minutes it was the visitors to the bank of the Thames that will be disappointed not to have collected all three points. City certainly had the better chances with Hampton’s attack being well contained until the belated introduction of substitute Ben Wright.

For Hampton too there is a feeling of frustration as Alan Devonshire’s side is now unbeaten in seven league games but only three have ended in victory with the last three all drawn.

Steve Castle made just one change to his Boxing Day starting XI with Hassan Sulaiman returning to the side and Simon Martin relegated to the bench. Gary Cohen, sent off in the first encounter at Clarence Park, retained his place alongside Paul Hakim in attack and had a decent day despite enduring something of a physical buffeting.

Devonshire was more cut throat as Wright was surprisingly dropped to the bench along with bothers Stuart and Ryan Lake. Highly rated teenager Wright was relatively subdued in the first meeting but revitalised the Beavers attack when brought off the bench on Thursday.

The game itself failed to scale any great heights with fussy referee Lee Collins doing his bit to ensure the play did not flow as freely as the nearby river when awarding a staggering 43 free kicks. Physical contact, on the whole, simply was not permitted.

City’s defence, on an uneven surface that survived a morning inspection, looked to be in for a lively afternoon when Ian Hodges, inside five minutes, collected a loose clearance and tore into the penalty area and whipped a fine effort low across Paul Bastock that went out for a goal kick despite vehement shouts that the City custodian got a touch.

But as the stop-start half went on St Albans offered the more commanding presence. Cohen won the first corner of the match on 14 minutes while three minutes later a half cleared Jonathan Hunt corner was returned to Hunt whose powerfully struck angled shot from 25 yards fizzed just over Matt Lovett’s goal.

Hodges, the scorer of Hampton’s second equaliser at Clarence Park, did well to beat Bastock to a Barrie Matthews free kick but could not stop his header from flying just over the target.

Possibly the clearest chance of the half came on 23 minutes when Lee Clarke played the ball up to James Fisher, again outstanding in midfield, who cushioned a header into the path of Hakim inside the penalty. With time and space aplenty the Saints leading marksman deftly flicked the ball wide not only of the exposed Lovett but also the goal.

Chris Seeby continued his run of good form since returning after a prolonged lay off through injury and did well to get ahead of Francis Quarm to concede Hampton’s first corner of the game just before the half hour. And Seeby’s partners in the centre of the defence, Ryan Frater and Ben Martin, excelled to deny Lawrence Yaku who appeared to be racing clear after being sent away by Hodges.

A spell of City pressure seemed to be building towards a goal when a Scott Cousins free kick was headed out for a corner. Hunt’s dead ball cross was knocked away only as far as Fisher whose chip towards the back post saw Martin out-jump Lovett but again the ball sailed over the bar.

The final three minutes of the half were just about the most exciting of the opening period. A long ball by Beavers skipper Dean Wells sent Yaku clear of the City defence. Bastock, near to the edge of his penalty area, did well to divert Yaku away from goal but the Hampton striker still had the whole target to aim at before carelessly miscuing the ball over from ten yards.

Seconds later City were again on the back foot as Martin lost possession to Matthews when trying to run the ball out for a goal kick. Matthews quickly cut inside and drilled the ball low with Bastock doing well to block the effort and grab the rebound.

The City keepers attempted clearance went somewhat awry with Quarm picking up the loose ball and seeking to beat the out of position Bastock from 35 yards only for his shot to drift wide of the goal.

Quarm was again in action just prior to the break when pulled up for a foul on Lee Clarke some 25 yards from the home goal. Hakim, not a regular dead ball expert, brushed Hunt aside to send a right-footed effort against the outside of Lovett’s right hand upright.

On a welcome frost-free but nonetheless uncomfortably cold afternoon both sides reappeared unchanged after the interval and St Albans were quickly into their stride. Hakim worked the ball in well from the right to Fisher who was unable to keep his shot from 20 yards down and Lovett was untroubled by the rising ball.

In truth, a goal was looking increasingly unlikely as both defences stood firm and neither side used a succession of free kicks to any great benefit. For a match of 43 free kicks for fouls and a dozen corners the number of genuine efforts on goal of any decent quality was disappointingly low.

Even so, City had a let off when Shaun McAuley slid the ball right across the visitor’s penalty area to Graham Harper whose low drive went agonisingly across the face of Bastock’s goal.

Next it was City’s turn to be wasteful when Fisher threaded a good ball through to Hakim whose ground shot from a good angle was blocked by the diverting Lovett and rebounded to Hakim who was tackled at the cost of a corner.

After Cohen gently headed a Clarke cross through to Lovett the attention turned to the opposite end with Bastock grateful to be right in line with Quarm’s crisply struck volley from 25 yards and on 70 minutes Bastock again saved by his near post after Yaku had won the ball from Seeby and cut in from the Beavers left flank.

Having looked a solid unit until now City’s back line was tested more strongly from the 72nd minute when Wright came on for Yaku. Within moments Wright, after putting a delightful flick into the path of Hodges, had a shot deflected for a corner.

And ten minutes from time Wright worked himself plenty of space inside the penalty area to receive Quarm’s pass only to see his rising shot beat Bastock and smash into the face of the crossbar.

St Albans refused to sit back to settle on a point and through Seeby, Hakim and Sulaiman moved swiftly down the right flank. Sulaiman cut the ball inside to Clarke but his final work for the day was to shoot harmlessly high over the home goal.

Castle sent on James Quilter and Simon Martin for the closing stages but it was Sam Hurrell, an earlier substitute for Hunt, who found himself in the thick of the action. The former Chelsea youngster went on a long solo counterattack before losing the ball midway inside the Hampton half then was penalised for what appeared a nonexistent foul by the tedious Mr Collins.

From Wright’s free kick on the Beavers right the final chance of the afternoon went begging with Stuart Lake climbing all over Quilter to concede yet one more foul.

Hampton & Richmond Borough: M.Lovett, G.Harper, M.Fernandes, O.Jeffrey, J.Scarborough D.Wells, S.McAuley (S.Lake 83), F.Quarm, I.Hodges, L.Yaku (B.Wright 72), B.Matthews, subs; R.Kember, S.Tyson, R.Lake.

St Albans City: P.Bastock, J.Fisher, S.Cousins, L.Clarke (J.Quilter 83), B.Martin, R.Frater, H.Sulaiman (S.Martin 83), C.Seeby, G.Cohen, P.Hakim, J.Hunt (S.Hurrell 75), subs; A.Everitt, J.Munday.

Booked: Fisher.

Referee: Lee Collins (Woking).

Att: 687.