United 1
(Seymour 50′)
St Albans City 1
(Banton 56′)
United had to settle for a point on Saturday, as ten-man St Albans held on for a share of the spoils at Plainmoor.
A goalless first-half was quickly forgotten about as the two sides exchanged goals early into the second period, with Ben Seymour’s opener swiftly cancelled out by Zane Banton’s leveller. Banton was given a straight red card soon after, but despite plenty of late pressure, The Gulls couldn’t find a late winner.
Following last weeks’ FA Cup exit, manager Paul Wotton opted to make four changes to his starting line-up, with Finley Craske, Jay Foulston, Cody Cooke and Dan Hayfield replacing Finn Tonks, Dean Moxey, Brad Ash and Omar Mussa. This week’s new addition, Will Jenkins Davies had to be content with a place on the bench.
The Gulls certainly enjoyed the better of the early stages, even if they weren’t able to turn that possession into much in the way of clear-cut chances.
In fact, the first real opening fell the way of the visitors.
A ball over the top saw City winger Banton dart in behind the Torquay back-line, and after drawing James Hamon out of goal, his delivery towards Shaun Jeffers just short of the goal line was only repelled by a last-ditch smothering challenge from Sam Dreyer.
It was a timely warning for Wotton’s side.
Cooke was involved in most things at the focal point of United’s attack, and he was receiving some pretty robust treatment from the St Albans defenders, with the Yellow Army voicing their frustration after their striker receiving the only booking of a hotly-contested first period.
There was certainly some fine-tuning required at the interval.
The match suddenly sprung action in the 49th minute.
A fine one-on-one save from Hamon to deny the advancing Giorgio Rasulo left some home fans with their hearts in their mouths, however the breakthrough came at the other end seconds later.
After picking up possession and heading towards the 18-yard box, Seymour’s pass in the direction of strike partner Cooke may have been misplaced, however with the St Albans defence failing to clear the ball, Torquay’s number nine reacted quickest to rectify the matter, with his low drive going under the dive of Michael Johnson to make it 1-0.
Sadly, the lead didn’t last long.
City’s boss David Noble would have been delighted as his side’s response, and after pumping the ball into the penalty area on a number of occasions without breaking through, their reward eventually came via the boot of Banton, who fired home a left-footer past Hamon’s dive from 20 yards out.
Banton’s afternoon went downhill rapidly thereafter, as he went from hero to villain in the space of eight minutes.
With a ball heading towards the Popside prompting an aerial duel between the St Albans winger and Ed Palmer, it was the latter who came off worst. The referee was, like most of Plainmoor, in no doubt of the seriousness of the situation, and duly produced a straight red card for Banton.
Although Palmer eventually got to his feet, he was clearly unable to continue, and it took some time for the game to regain any structure thereafter.
Substitute Jenkins Davies nearly announced his return in style in the 73rd minute, however despite having two bites of a low right-wing cherry of a cross, the Plymouth loanee couldn’t quite poke his eight-yard effort through a sea of defenders.
As the match entered its final ten minutes, the men in yellow and blue hoops really began to up the ante, with the ten-man visitors looking more and more delighted with a point.
There were a number of goalmouth scrambles that came as a result of Torquay’s bid for a late winner, but sadly the ball just wouldn’t fall kindly for Wotton’s side, with the hunt for a decisive second goal becoming increasingly desperate as the minutes began to tick away on a frustrating afternoon.
A late penalty shout for an apparent trip on another replacement, Mussa, saw tempers frayed at the perceived injustice in the stands. To make matters worse, Mussa was unable to return thereafter.
When Matt Carson volleyed a back-post chance over in the tenth minute of injury time, you just knew it wasn’t going to be United’s day.
Time ran out in the end, but when all is said and done, it’s still another point on the board.
UNITED: 1. James Hamon, 2. Finley Craske (8. Roddy Collins, 90+7′), 3. Jay Foulston, 5. Sam Dreyer, 7. Lirak Hasani (22. Will Jenkins Davies, 61′), 9. Ben Seymour (11. Brad Ash 87′), 14. Matt Carson, 16. Ed Palmer (17. Finn Tonks 69′), 18. Oscar Threlkeld (c), 19. Cody Cooke, 20. Dan Hayfield (10. Omar Mussa, 74′).
Yellow Card: Cooke 19′, Dreyer 64′, Jenkins Davies 90+8′
ST ALBANS: 1. Michael Johnson, 2. Jack James, 5. Dan Bowry, 6. David Longe-King, 8. Alfie Payne, 9. Shaun Jeffers, 11. Zane Banton, 14. Josh Castiglione (10. Romeo Akinola, 87′), 18. Sam Deadfield (c), 20. Giorgio Rasulo, 31. Phil Chinedo.
SUBS NOT USED: 25. Marlow Gough, 27. Kieran Gauthier, 28. James Bone, 29. Nick Ralfe.
Yellow Card: James 73′, Johnson 90+9′
Red Card: Banton 64′
Attendance: 3,278 (35 away)