Hamlet v St Albans City - Saturday 3 November 2018

Today's South London Press reports that Preston Edwards is an injury doubt with a swollen knee.

Dipo Akinyemi will be suspended for this match plus the next two, assuming there was no appeal against his red card at Billericay. I thought the challenge looked awkward rather than malicious on the video replay as he seemed to attempt to win the ball with one foot and catch the man with teh other.

 

We've got the rescheduled Weston-super-Mare game next Tuesday 6 November.

 

The club have not appealed, unfortunate timing for him given his excellent form

 

Unfortunately I doubt an appeal would have been worthwhile. The fact he was still on the field in stoppage time when alternative strikers were on the bench shows Gavin was happy with his contribution, it's just a pity fate has conspired against us. But hopefully an opportunity for someone else to shine. (I think Stalebuns was one of the clubs he's played for on loan from Stevenage.)

 

1 0 Moroccan Sunset

 

I reckon their number 2 might need a hip replacement after that Nathan Green challenge first half

 

Great Result against a team in form.

I thought we played a narrow 4-1-3-2 with Kargbo sitting behind Vose, Carew and Nat with Jay and Clunis up top. The passing and movement in the first half was excellent and despite playing all our Central Midfields kept St Albans stretched. I was surprised we only scored once and Nyrens finish after some sexy football was exceptional. We peppered their goal and at times made the opposition look silly. We were good.

Second half we created less and our players started to look fatigued. Jay ran his socks of and played a huge part, providing hold up play and great passing accuracy to bring players into the game. St Albans turned up the pressure but we held firm, Ferguson hit the post from a wicked shot 25 yards out.

St Albans were the worst team I have seen play is this season. They made mistake after mistake and gifted us possession constantly. We carved them open with ease and maybe their league position suggests why we didn’t score more against them. They didn’t have an answer to our creative play and precise play.

The Ref was awful (or bent). Definitely a Lizard. The first half he appeared to give St Albans everything (at times the only way they could get possession). Green probably should have been booked but the Albans defence were getting away with much worse, and dangerous challenges. Two of Nyrens shots that were clearly tipped away by the keeper behind were given as goal kicks.

Kingsley was booked in the second half for being tackle. Their player slid in, fast and dangerous, made contact and then immediately pulled up injured. Kingsley just stood there?

Overall we were fantastic. It’s a shame Dopo was suspended because he would have enjoyed that game.

 

Fair report, they certainly improved after the subs came in, the nippy blond on the left looked very useful.

 

Thought that was as good as we've seen this season. First half was exceptional and we still looked like adding to the lead when we were defending brilliantly towards the end of the second half. Ref didn't change the outcome but was blind as a fucking bat. END.

 

Top performance, thought we might get done in the last 10mins given the number of chances that went begging. Well if they are top 6 it just goes to show how open this league is, I thought they were awful and their manager well he would look more at home on Hackney Marshes on a Sunday all he had to offer was ‘put your foot through it’.

Thought Ash was a lucky boy with that challenge in the first half.

We seem to be hitting a bit of form and only 4 points from the playoff places.

 

We're a top 6 or 7 team in this division now. Print that in your muthafuckin' Buzz report.

 

Didnt realise how congested the league table was until I looked a min ago. 4 points between us in 16th and 4th place

 

Yup, fantastic performance and we kept going till the end to grind out the result.

St Albans were angsty little fuckers though, I love abit of tasty contact but they were right little Sunday league wankers, shocked they’re as high as they are.

Gavin Rose has assembled an unbelievable squad given the shit that’s been thrown at this club.

 

Thought Kargbo and Chambers were great today. Chambers gets more assured by the game.

Jay May deserves a goal soon.

 

I'm not sure how that referee managed to book six of our players and only one of theirs. I thought he was incompetent. He twice gave a goal kick after the keeper had touched a Clunis shot wide, and the second time he booked our man for dissent because of his mistake. Okuonghae's booking was a joke too: "timewasting" after the linesman motioned him to move the ball a few yards sideways before taking a free kick for offside. Eshun was booked for nothing more than being stronger than his opponent in a 50-50 challenge.

Great move to open them up for the goal, begun by Vose taking a quick throw near the corner flag, and the ball was worked across the edge of the box before a quick short pass released Clunis behind the defence to fire past the keeper. We really should have gone on to win more comfortably after that but our second clean sheet of the season ensured the win, although the absence of our leading goalscorer didn't help. I thought St Albans looked very ordinary for a top 6 side who are established at this level. Apart from one powerful shot late on that hit the post with Edwards beaten they rarely looked like scoring. Teams at this level just seem more efficient at all the dull or negative stuff; I haven't really seen much more flair or individual excellence from most of them than from those in the Isthmian League.

We've played everyone currently in the top half of the table except Torquay and only five of those in the bottom half, so I'd say our record of W6 D3 L6 is more respectable than it looks at a glance.

 

Can't really add much than has been said above and also surprised they weren't a better team.
Their goalie should have been recognised for a couple of fingertip saves and us having the corners but for some reason the ref wasn't looking...

A clean sheet means our goal difference is slowly getting better!!

 

I would like to add that the last booking was an absolute joke.

I have witnessed to much time wasting by the opposition this season. Goalies eating up half a minute with goal kicks, some falling over (bleasant) because they have been instructed by their coaches, free kicks taking an age...ALL UNPUNISHED!!!

God forbid Magnus try’s to put the ball down in the right place as instructed and he gets booked. The referee hit top speed, covering 30 yards to show him the yellow. It was the fastest I’d seen a Albans player move all game.

 

D'you know, I was quietly hoping you might bring this up. Today I thought we got Nyren at his best and his worst: for the first half he was playing (for the most part) to the right of May and caused havoc. His goal was excellent - both the initial flick into May and the finish. I also thought he seized the initiative quite a lot and the shots he was firing in from the 18 yard mark were snappy and threatening. Yet when Vose popped a beautiful little dink over the St. Albans backline to put him through on goal he fluffed his lines and the ball ended up trickling out. There was a lovely cross from Carew (I think) from the right too that he didn't put away.

Second half I thought he became much quieter as he shuffled across to the left. I always think Clunis looks miles better when he can shoot across the goal (as he did when he scored today), rather than when he has to cut back on to his right foot. There was a near-criminal error when he was put through to the left, had May et al queuing up in the middle but chose to blast it at the keeper. Quade rightly went ballistic. The rest was fits and bursts - long periods of anonymity, before a very smart strike that forced the keeper into a save that he palmed out - somehow the Ref awarded a goal kick, Nyren... erm... disagreed (understandably) and got booked.

I've picked over what he does with forensic detail but I just think today summed him up: a bright, vibrant performance in the first half, especially when he was working down the right, but too many fluffed chances and bad decisions when put in good positions and noticeably less effective when playing down the left.

I hate to say it but Kingsley's booking looked deserved to me. His foot definitely caught the St. Albans defenders shin. It wasn't malicious, but it was mistimed.

The first half performance was fantastic. Slick, at times one-touch, and aggressive. We missed Dipo's predatory instincts to cap some excellent football. Vose, as usual, was at the heart of everything - his vision and weight of passing is the best we've had since Oztumer. Credit to May who seemed to spent most of the first half getting shoved to the floor, Magnus and Quade. Kargbo makes one heck of a difference too.

If we can replicate the first half on Tuesday night, then it will be fantastic viewing.

 

Ooh, and while I'm on the topic of controversial opinions, I think Quade is better than Chambers.

 

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Top bantz.

 

I think this was what most annoyed me about him. He made a big show of booking people. (Our people.) All he needed to do for the Okuonghae booking was to stop the clock for a few seconds. I think we were in stoppage time by then - if the same thing had happened 20 minutes earlier I bet he wouldn't have done anything. It annoys me when referees suddenly demand that players speed things up for the final few minutes when they've had nothing to say about it for the first 85+ minutes.

 

I thought the booking for timewasting was for deliberately letting the ball run past him when the opponent threw it back then pretending to not have seen it.

 

Very good result against a team that didn't look like play-off contenders (or may we didn't let them look like play off contenders). Should probably have been out of sight by half time and in the end pleased that we didn't fall to a late sucker punch. Well done!

 

Sundaaaaay league wankers. More of this kind of thing.

 

This is the thing. We belong up there.