PREVIEW

Steve Harris

@steveharris84

MATCH DETAILS

St Albans City versus Torquay United

Venue: Clarence Park

Date: Saturday 19th August 2023

Kick-off: 3pm

HEAD TO HEAD/FORM GUIDE

H2H

Torquay: 3

Draw: 1

St Albans: 1

Form:

St Albans – W, L, W – last result: 1-2 vs Havant & Waterlooville (a)

Torquay – D, L, W – last result: 2-1 vs Chippenham (h)

ST ALBANS FACTFILE

Year founded: 1908.

Nickname: The Saints

Last season’s league finish: 6th in National League South (lost in play-off final to Oxford City)

St Albans City notable honours:

Isthmian League Champions:

1923-24, 1926-27, 1927-2

OPPOSITION Q&A – St Albans City by Michael Hill

MANAGER – DAVID NOBLE

After starting his career with Arsenal, David Noble first made his name at Boston United where he was snapped by Gary Johnson for Bristol City in January 2006.

He went to score twice in the Robins’ 3-1 win over Rotherham United on the final day of the 2006-07 season, which sealed their return to the Championship (former Gulls midfielder Alex Russell scored the other).

Noble left Ashton Gate at the end of the 2008-09 season and then went on to have spells with Exeter City (twice), Oldham Athletic and Rotherham United. He initially joined the Saints as a player in 2016 before becoming a player-coach, interim head coach later head coach on a permanent basis.

NOBLE STATS

Appointed: 19th November 2022

Date of Birth: 02/02/1982 (41)

Other Clubs Managed: N/A

PLAYER TO WATCH – SHAUN JEFFERS

A prolific scorer since he joined the Saints in 2020, Shaun Jeffers is currently one of the leading strikers in the National League South, having found the back of the net 34 and 29 times in the last two seasons respectively in all competitions.

He started his career with Coventry City and later had spells with Peterborough United, Newport County and Yeovil Town before dropping into non-league football with Chelmsford City in the 2016-17 season. Jeffers later had stints with Boreham Wood and Brackley Town before re-joining the Clarets in the 2019-20, shortly before his move to Clarence Park.

JEFFERS STATS

Position: Striker

Date of Birth: 14/04/92 (31)

Birthplace: Bedford

Height: 1.85m

Former Clubs: Coventry, Cheltenham, Cambridge, Tamworth, Peterboro, Newport, Yeovil, Woking, Chelmsford, Boreham, Hampton, Brackley,

NLS Stats 23/24: Appearances 3, Goals 0, Yellow/Red Cards 2/0

OLD BOYS

Torquay United: None

St Albans: Ben Wyatt

POSSIBLE LINE-UPS

Torquay United (4-4-2)

Mark Halstead

Shaun Donnellan, Ross Marshall, Ollie Tomlinson, Dan Martin

Jack Stobbs, Will Jenkins Davies, Tom Lapslie, Lewis Collins

Aaron Jarvis, Brad Ash

St Albans (3-5-2)

Michael Johnson

Sam Brown, Dan Bowry, Nathan Carlyle

Dylan Fage, Ben Smith, Ryan Blackman, Jack James, Giorgio Rasulo

Mitchell Weiss, Shaun Jeffers

LAST MEETING

27th April 2019

St Albans City 0-4 Torquay United – NLS

Torquay United signed off a memorable 2018-19 season in style with a thumping win over St Albans City, which saw them beat several records in the process.

One record was broken within seconds of the game kicking off. With the first attack of the game, Connor Lemonheigh-Evans fed Kalvin Kalala, who rifled the ball into the net with only ten seconds on the clock, beating Jordan Chapell’s 17-second effort against Portsmouth back in the 2013-14 season.

Kalala then completed his brace with United’s 93rd goal of the campaign, the highest number of goals ever scored by the Gulls in a campaign, which took United’s points tally to a record 88, which proved to be the icing on the cake in their 27th win of the campaign – which was yet another record.

Within a minute, it was nearly two, as Lemonheigh-Evans slammed an effort against the post.

The Gulls doubled their lead in the ninth minute when Lemonheigh-Evans had a shot charged down, but Reid was on hand to fire in his 32nd goal of the season from the rebound.

A minute later, Lemonheigh-Evans, at the heart of all United’s best early moves, saw history repeat itself as he hit the post for a second time.

After an astonishing first ten minutes, the home side, chasing a play-off place themselves, eventually roused themselves.

With 18 minutes on the clock, David Moyo beat United captain Kyle Cameron, and only a fine save from United keeper Shaun MacDonald prevented St Albans finding a way back into the match.

Normal service was resumed on the half hour though, Ryan Dickson’s run into the penalty area was brought to a halt by Scott Shulton, and a penalty was awarded. Reid opted to send the spot-kick straight down the middle, but ‘keeper Dean Snedker read it well and parried the ball away to safety to limit the damage.

After such a dramatic first half, it took the second half a little while to get going.

However, United were still on top for the majority of proceedings, and a delicious cross into the box so nearly found the finishing touch from onrushing duo Olaf Koszela and Jake Andrews.

The third goal soon followed though, with Koszela flicking the ball into the path of fellow substitute Opi Edwards who crowned his recent return from injury to stab home his third goal of the season.

Any questions of United taking their foot off the gas were shot down in flames as both Koszela and Edwards came close to scoring in the closing stages before Kalala struck in injury time with United’s fourth of the day.