St.Albans 0 City 1 (Smith 26m)

A welcome 3 points for City at St. Albans again where they dominated possession for long periods in the 1st half, creating several good chances where the game should have been put away against a team lacking in confidence and quality. As so often happens the opposition start to realise they can get something out of the game and the 2nd half saw City pushed back and the home team creating several chances of their own which City had to be thankful to Clarke and the defence for thwarting their efforts.

City looked the home team for much of the 1st half as they controlled the ball, working it from side to side looking for openings with Raynes particularly to the fore down the right hand side, seeing more space and possession than he is used to. Brunt led the line well, holding the ball up and came close with a header just clearing the bar. The goal came from Pearson getting down the channel into the box and finding Smith coming in to side foot home on the volley. This should have opened the flood gates and Smith came close shortly after but just lifted the ball over. St. Albans created little and it seemed only a matter of time before City scored again but it was not to be as possession didn't become penetration and became predictable, no one running the channels to get hold of the ball deep in the opposition half.

2nd half saw City fail to match their earlier possession and territory as the home team began to push forward though without creating clear cut opportunities. City weren't able to dominate in the opposing half through careless possession and allowed St. Albans to gain some confidence. Clarke saves, some last ditch tackling and some pin ball off the bar caused City fans some angst as the game went to the close. Subs perhaps should have been made earlier to change things up and inject some spark and pace to the City team to try and hold the ball in the opposing half, but in truth we created little with the ball flashing across the box a couple of chances, and Brunt hammering a chance just over.

So 3 points and up to 8th with only 3 league games today, back on the winning trail, a clean sheet, but for all the possession we had in the 1st half we should be putting these games away earlier against poor opposition and not hanging on as we did at times.

I am a bit concerned about the number of changes in personnel recently. There were three new faces again on Saturday plus Pearson. I don't know how long their loans are for but it makes it difficult to develop a team spirit.
We have been particularly unfortunate with injuries this season but the change in personnel is becoming alarming.

What I find alarming is the spate of injuries. I don't see what alternative there is to bringing in loanees and as far as I can tell it is not affecting team spirit.

Highlights from St Albans - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=PBNcDYXkEHM

I'm also alarmed by the number of injuries. Playing a quarter of the season in such a short period of time is a big ask for part time players.

I understand our needs for loanees, just slightly confused as to why we loaned out Bower during a time of desperation. He wasn't injured, or playing badly, in my opinion.

Really pleased we got a win, though. Let's hope it continues.

Notters - your opinion about Bower is shared by many. I can only deduce that his month's loan out coincides with our new loanee coming here for a month - Bower will continue to get 'game time' at another club until his recall to replace the new guy (Bowry?)

comrade powell wrote:What I find alarming is the spate of injuries. I don't see what alternative there is to bringing in loanees and as far as I can tell it is not affecting team spirit.

I presume from your comment that both Simpson and Hamblin are injured.

On Twitter somebody said that (like a lot of us) they couldn't understand why we had let a defender (Bower) go out on loan and immediately brought in another one (Bowry). I replied that I assumed that the club's view was presumably that Bowry was a better player than Bower and as Jerry Gill 'liked' my response that must be the case. Does suggest that Bower doesn't fit into the long term plans though.

Judging players on a single game is not terribly fair, but Bower (not alone) had a bad day at the office against Billericay. Positional sense and pace were poor, so on this slender evidence I was not surprised. It was only my second game this season.