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FA Trophy 5th Round
Daggers 1 St. Albans City 2
You know when Spring is on its way as this was the first match this year when no floodlights were required. A bright day with great expectations from both sets of supporters, St Albans bringing a sizeable amount with them and ultimately ending up a little happier than us.
It was the visitors who had the better of the first half, the Daggers found it difficult to settle down and were always that half a pace away from the action. The first chance fell to the Saints, they had created a chance from the right and crossed the ball in the middle of the penalty area, my vision was obscured but it looked like one of our defenders got his toe to the ball and nearly poked it past Gothard. Immediately following this we managed our first attack. It was Gary Howard who had been released on the left and he was able to take it past the only St Albans defender that was there. The cross was very deep but fell into a rather large hole devoid of anyone.
It was a day that we were to have very little luck. Even though the players appeared to be working hard they never looked in control. St Albans, on the other hand were very polished, using the offside rule to great effect. This was helped by a strong wind and this was borne out as they were less effective in the second half. They should have been one to the good because in the twenty sixth minute a high ball came in from the right and as Gothard came out to punch the ball away he was beaten in the air by the No 7 who managed to head it goal bound. The ball seemed to be in the air forever and was eventually cleared. by Lee Matthews.
It was at this point that tensions started to rear their head and a little bit of pushing and shoving occurred, not between players of opposite teams but between Tim Cole and Paul Gothard who were undecided as to whose fault the lack of concentration was! What this did though was further unsettle a team that was looking shaky and this coupled with fact that the referee was losing control and making some very strange decisions led to the opening goal. From a free kick Gothard came out to the cross well but punched the ball straight into the path of the advancing forward who made no mistake with his twenty five yard volley. In all honesty it was a deserved lead and we needed to lift our game considerably if we were to get back into the match.
Shipp and Cobb did have half chances in the first half, both on the break and both from very tight angles but as I previously mentioned the luck wasn't with us and this was to continue throughout the second half.
A better start for us at the beginning of the second period, this was helped by the fact that Mark Janney was brought on for the injured Howard within two minutes of the restart. With his first real touch he got himself into a great position on the left but his shot was weak. We, the supporters could sense some great things ahead and got behind the team and just a minute later Paul Cobb shot across the face of the goal, to me it looked as though it was in but it had gone wide.
I felt we could get back into the game as St Albans' tidiness had deserted them and they were on the defensive for a while. They didn't look as good and weren't able to hold the line as they had in the first half. Then came the turning point, The St Albans keeper was sent off for a clumsy foul on Danny Shipp that gave us a penalty and a lifeline. Of course there was a delay as the visitors had to rearrange their team and it put extra pressure on Cobb who, when he eventually got to take the spot kick, put it straight over the bar.
It was within five minutes that St Albans were to increase their lead, they had increased their work rate (as often happens when you go down to ten men) and that along with the fact that we were now pushing for an equaliser resulted in Gothard being left precariously alone at the back. He did close down the player advancing from the right and parry his shot but he wasn't able to do much about Dominic Gentle coming in for the follow up on the left. 0-2 with around half an hour left. It was in the last ten minutes that the Daggers could see the urgency of the situation, they increased the overall tension of the match but having attack after attack thwarted by the substitute goalkeeper, who, it appeared, would like a first team place and probably warrants it.
It was nail biting stuff, with just a few couple of minutes to go Jason Broom collected and ran towards the penalty area, he cut inside and set himself up with a low left foot shot. It beat everyone including the keeper and rebounded back into play from the outside of the post, Mark Janney was quick to seize the opportunity and bury the ball. Now the score was 1-2 but we all knew that there would be at least five minutes of time added on so the game was now wide open.
We tried every which way to attack and very exciting it was to, but as I mentioned earlier we were not having the luck and with 93 minutes on the clock we hit the same post again but this time there was no Janney to follow up.
An exciting cup tie which was played in good, if not sometimes over exuberant, spirit. Even though we had the chances in the last ten minutes to win the match it was the Saints that played better over the ninety minutes and deserved the win. The sending off was the turning point especially as it introduced the goalkeeper from hell! Good luck to St. Albans in the next round at least we can now concentrate on the League!
Gothard, Cole, Pratt, Howard(Janney1), Mas(Terry), Matthews, Broom, Cobb, Shipp, Game, Blackford
FA Trophy 4th Round
Daggers 4 Telford United 0
As I sit here on the Sunday morning after the match, between coats of woodstain, I still can feel the excitement running through me after what was an amazing first half performance.
A stroke of genius from Ted Hardy as he played both Jason Broom and Matty Bird in the centre of midfield and pushing Gary Howard out on the left. I felt that they all looked more comfortable in these positions, maybe this was the novelty of the situation or the importance of the fixture. I don't know.
The supporters of both clubs hadn't even had a chance to change ends when Danny Shipp managed to collect and volley from the far post, in what is now his own inimitable way. I couldn't tell you who had put the cross in but if they keep doing it for the rest of the season then Danny will end up as the leagues top scorer.
There was a sort of disbelief in our stand and the fear that maybe it was a little early and fortuitous that we had scored in the first minute. Farnborough, against us and in the last round, did the same, that is, they scored very early and then were under constant pressure from us for the rest of the match. With Telford, being an unknown quantity we just didn't know what the next 89 minutes were to unfold.
Ten minutes later, Danny collected a through ball from the centre of midfield, splitting a flat footed defence who were more interested in appealing for offside. He then controlled really well and bore down on goal, he struck the ball with power and precision and it was buried in the back of the net. 2-0 with eleven minutes on the clock and just what us supporters needed to settle our frayed nerves!
In all honesty, Telford, at times, played some positive fluent football. It was a bit "up in the air", something that at times we are guilty of but when the ball was played along the ground they looked dangerous. As has been the case in recent times it was Paul Gothard, whose concentration and awareness has improved dramatically this season, who pulled of a fine save, moving swiftly across his goal area to parry away a fine shot. Telford had put us under pressure, as once again we couldn't clear the ball from the danger area.
Because of the changed midfield, more chances were being created from there and goal number three was no exception. A very industrious David Pratt received a cross- field pass that again caught the Telford defence off guard. David was able to run towards goal and slot home. Just three minutes later, and I didn't see this, Danny Shipp completed his hat-trick, it was from a corner and not a far post volley! The score was now 4-0 and was to stay that way for the rest of the half.
The second half was to be a half of enjoyment and relaxation, both for us and the players. Good movement and play-making from Jason, Paul Terry and Kirk Game. Jason was perhaps trying too much to be the creator of chances as he may have squandered a couple of chances by his lack of selfishness.
Telford didn't give up but even they must have felt the game slipping away from them as the time went on. Although we did have a few more chances to score, most of us were just happy to stop the visitors from getting any sort of consolation from the match.
A great team performance, especially in the first half, my main concern is that we are not doing it consistently and even though our league season is all but over we will have to address this problem before next season. I, for one, do not want to spend another season in the Ryman Premier and although going to Wembley is a great day out, it is only one day and is no substitute for a full nine months in the top flight, is it?
Gothard, Cole, Pratt1, Howard, Goodwin, Matthews, Broom, Cobb, Shipp3, Game, Bird(Terry
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