Date   14th August 2007     Competition   Blue Square South     Attendance   443

Lineup   1 Phil Wilson     2 Asher Hudson     3 Alan Bray     4 John Scarborough     5 Darius Charles     6 Nicky Greene     7 Ross Montague   82 Henry 8 Paul Honey     9 Warren McBean   10 Craig Watkins   79 Martin 11 Craig Tanner           12 Ryan Palmer     14 Jason Henry     15 Tony Martin     16 Liam Pestle     17 Gareth Williams

With rain lashing down all night, both teams did well to serve up a fast, open game. However, with the defences dominating there were very few goalmouth incidents. The fast surface looked as though it might suit Sutton early on, and Watkins and McBean combined after just 4 minutes to send the latter through but he dragged his shot well wide from 25 yards. Sutton were doing almost all the attacking but rarely got beyond the City 18-yard line and it wasn’t until ten minutes before the break that the half really warmed up. McBean latched onto a mistake on the left and cut in but was held up as he tried to go round the keeper, laid the ball off square and the chance evaporated as City got bodies behind the ball. A rare St Albans attack then saw Wilson fall gratefully on a loose ball after U’s failed to deal with a through ball. Hudson then put in a good cross that Tanner met with a well-directed header from 15 yards, forcing Eyre into the only save of the half.

Both teams were livelier after the break, with U’s still having the lion’s share of possession. Within 30 seconds McBean beat 4 men down the left wing but was crowded out as he cut in to shoot. From a Hudson throw Tanner took the ball on his chest and swivelled to volley narrowly over the bar. McBean then showed twinkling feet to skip past a string of tackles but his cries for a penalty as he went down under a challenge in the box were waved away by the referee as St Albans cleared. Scarborough then sent a hooked volley wide from Greene’s free-kick. The first threat from the visitors came after 65 minutes when substitute Clark flicked a header just wide after Scarborough had failed to deal with a ball down the left. From Wilson’s goalkick McBean found space 20 yards and fizzed a shot narrowly wide. Greene then made a surging run left to right and his cross-sho9t was seized on by Watkins, who put the night’s best chance just wide of the upright. Clark almost won the game for St Albans with a first time volley then flew past the post with Wilson stranded. In the last minute a push on McBean allowed Tanner to strike a free-kick that Eyre only just pushed over the bar.

Afterwards, manager Ian Hazel was pleased at the way the defence performed individually and as a unit and expressed confidence that his forwards would soon be on the scoresheet. 

St Albans:-