St Albans City MWY 7 Marlow 5

The young Saints overcame a spirited Marlow side by the ridiculous scoreline of 7-5 to extend their unbeaten league run to 11 matches.

Perhaps it was the 4 week break or may be the raised hopes of playing for the senior sides but the youngsters were caught completed cold at the start. After 20 minutes they found themselves three goals down and for a side running away with the league it was a shock to face such a deficit. But to their credit the lads fought back with Stuart Henderson forcing an own goal in the 24^th minute from his low cross and Elliot Bailey heading home in the 44^th after a shot had cannoned off the bar. It could and should have been more as Myles Scott, Marino Hadji-Savva and Matt Taylor squandered golden opportunities, but after such a poor start to be just one goal adrift at the break was a relief.

It was the visitors turn to be benefactors at the restart and within 10 seconds Harry Carr intercepted a poor pass and Marino forced his shot under the keeper for 3-3. Four minutes a half cleared corner fell to Matt Taylor who picked out centreback Laurence Wroe on the edge of the box whose shot rifled low past the keeper into the far corner of the net, 4-3. With their tails now up Elliot Bailey turned and shot from the edge of the box and with a vicious bounce over the keeper it was 5-3 and on 59 minutes the match looked to be safe. This was not to be as Marlow fought back strongly with their fourth coming from a poorly defended long throw and the scores again levelled at 5-5 as their striker’s weak shot squirmed through the defence and beyond keeper Will Conway.

With the match seemingly lost then won, St Albans had to make it secure once again. Totally in keeping with a bizarre match it was a 45 yard free-kick from the mercurial boot of James Shaw which sailed over Marlow’s 6’6” keeper who had strayed off his line, 6-5. Hearts finally stopped pounding in the 86^th minute when Cieran Yapp secured a 2 goal cushion with a smart finish low into the net, 7-5.

A crazy match which careered from end to end, reflected in a crazy 7-5 scoreline. Although the young Saints can be proud at fighting back, they can learn a lot of lessons from this match, namely Communication, Communication, Communication!!! At least the spectators got their money’s worth tonight.

City: Conway; Zazzera, Wroe, Davies, Scott; Carr, Shaw, Taylor (Yapp 60); Bailey, Hadji-Savva (Lee-Baptiste 53), Henderson(Charles 77).

Subs not used: O’Connell, Blow.

Booked: Zazzera (58), Wroe (88)

Goals:

City        - og (24), Bailey (44, 59), Hadji-Savva (46), Wroe (50), Shaw (75), Yapp (86).

Marlow – 2, 14, 20, 67, 72.