United will be looking to make it back-to-back wins on Saturday, as The Gulls head to Hertfordshire to take on St Albans City.
Having taken one point from their opening two encounters at Dover (2-2) and at home to Worthing (0-3), Torquay’s exciting injury-time win over Chippenham (2-1) on Tuesday evening sees Gary Johnson’s side head to Clarence Park with renewed confidence, as they look to make their way up the fledgling National League South table.
Who’s the boss?
Not much of an introduction will be required between the two dugouts tomorrow, with St Albans manager David Noble having played a significant part in Bristol City’s successes during United boss Johnson’s tenure at Ashton Gate.
Capped by England up to Under-20 level before switching allegiance to Scotland where he would go on to gain Under-21 and ‘B’ honours, it was in the youth ranks at Arsenal that David began learning his trade, before stints at Watford (loan), West Ham and Boston preceded a £80,000 move to The Robins in 2006.
A large chunk of that fee was arguably paid off by the end of the season that followed, with Noble’s brace in the promotion-sealing win over Rotherham securing City their first crack at second-tier football in eight years. Twelve months later, a stunning strike in the Play-Off semi-final success over Crystal Palace left the Bristol side within touching distance of the top-flight, only for a galling 1-0 defeat against Hull City scuppering those dreams.
Moves to Yeovil, Exeter, Rotherham, Cheltenham, Oldham and Exeter again followed, before a 2016 move to St Albans not only saw David bring the curtain down on his playing career following over a hundred appearances for the Club, but also take his first steps in management, following the departure of previous boss Ian Allinson in September 2022.
How have they been doing?
Two wins out of three have seen City make a strong start to 2023/24, with an opening day home win over Weymouth and Wednesday night’s victory at Havant & Waterlooville coming either side of a narrow reverse away to much-fancied Yeovil Town – with all three results decided by a 2-1 margin.
Player to watch
Recent signing Dylan Fage has made a marvellous impression during his first few weeks as a St Albans, getting on the scoresheet in both of The Saints’ victories so far.
The 24 year-old Parisian began his career with Auxerre II, before heading for English shores to spend three seasons at Boundary Park with then-League Two outfit Oldham Athletic. The Latics’ relegation to non-League football sparked a brief move to Macclesfield FC, prior to Dylan moving back up the footballing ladder with St Albans this summer.
Played for both
Having departed Plainmoor only a few months ago, there could be a swift reunion for Ben Wyatt and his former United teammates at Clarence Park tomorrow.
Left-back Wyatt arrived in South Devon last summer after making 24 appearances for League Two side Sutton during the previous campaign, where he was a popular member of the side that pipped Johnson’s side to the National League title in 2020/21.
After starting out as a youngster at Ipswich Town, Ben moved on to join Colchester United in 2016, however it was his superb form for the likes of Braintree and St Albans City that really saw his career move up a gear, and ultimately secured him a move to Gander Green Lane.
A return to St Albans was confirmed during pre-season, after Wyatt made 31 appearances for Torquay last term.
Previous encounter
St Albans 0 – 4 United
(Lumbombo-Kalala 1′, 90+2′, Reid 9′, Edwards 63′)
A record-breaking day saw United sign off the 2018/19 season in style, as they strolled to victory against St Albans on the final match of the campaign.
No less than four club records were broken on an astonishing finale to Torquay’s National League South campaign, with Kalvin Lumbombo-Kalala’s opener after just ten seconds later being confirmed as the fastest in the Club’s long history.
Top scorer Jamie Reid doubled that advantage before ten minutes had been completed, before a second half strike from substitute Opi Edwards made it three.
Lumbombo-Kalala went on to end proceedings just as he had started it in injury-time to score United’s fourth of the day, and 93rd of the season, sealing club record number two.
Once the final whistle brought The Gulls’ championship-winning campaign to an end moments later, their 27th win of the season took United’s points tally to 88 points, and broke another two more long-standing club records in the process.
Ticketing information for tomorrow’s match is available HERE, whilst full live commentary will be available via TUFC Radio HERE.