TALKING POINTS

Joe Uglow – @Joe_Ugs

Joe discusses one point picked up on the road!

SLUGGISH START

Much debate was had before this weekend when it was revealed by Paul Wotton that the squad would be travelling up on the day of the game. There are arguments for both an overnight stay and an up-and-back on the day on the coach; An unfamiliar bed, plenty of waiting around before a game has not seen us in sparkling away form, but the thought of the players on a coach for four hours prior to the game also doesn’t sound like great preparation either!

Six minutes in and it looked like the players were ‘still on the bus’ as a neat St Albans move culminated in the opening goal. Hayfield was far too easily rolled in midfield and the usually reliable Sam Dreyer was caught flat footed, allowing Saints debutant Harrison Smith through on goal. In fairness Smith hit it early and hit it well, but James Hamon won’t want to watch that one back too many times, as the ball seemed to go through him.

It’s a tricky shot to save when it’s hit early and down low at your body, but if we’re to try and win this league we do need our No.1 to step up and make those kind of saves. His positioning as well probably aided the St Albans front man as he was a long way out from his goal-line, this is often a positive attribute of Hamon’s as he is very much a “Sweeper Keeper” but on this occasion this contributed to a poor goal being conceded from St Albans’ only real shot on target.

HIGHLIGHTS – FIRST GOAL – YOUTUBE CLIP

PLENTY OF CHANCES CREATED

The second half was one of the most one-sided you’re likely to see but even in the first half when we were finding our way in to the game we had two or three good chances. Jordan Thomas was guilty of missing the best chance of the first half as he couldn’t get his feet sorted to convert a chance at the back-post. The second half continued in pretty much the same vein, with big chances missed by the impressive Jordan Young, Omar Mussa & Cody Cooke as his header bounced off the bar three times before going out.

Creating the chances is one thing, but if we are to win this league then we simply have to score them, we created enough to win that game 3 or 4-1 on another day, and when teams are scoring from their only shot on target, we simply have to be far more clinical or we will have to settle for a play off place at the end of the season.

HIGHLIGHTS – THOMAS CHANCE – YOUTUBE CLIP

PW SUBS MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Similarly to last week against Welling it was Wotton’s sub’s that made a big impact on Saturday. The introduction of Omar Mussa & Lirak Hasani for Morgan & WJD brought fresh energy to United’s attack & the ‘Moose’ in particular ran their Right Back ragged in the second half. It’s a great trait of Wotton’s game management that his subs are able to make such an impact and Saturday’s bench options was streets ahead of recent year’s offerings of D.Martin, C.Johnson, C.Thomas & R.Lovett!

Going back to Dylan Morgan who was rightfully hooked at half time, I do wonder if he’s not being used in his strongest position currently. From watching his highlight reel at Yeovil I would like to see him starting in the midfield as opposed to the left side of an attacking three. Getting him on the ball deeper with his low centre of gravity & trickery should be able to turn defence in to attack in the blink of an eye and with Mussa slotting in on the left of attacking three. Perhaps food for thought for PW ahead of Slough?

HIGHLIGHTS – MUSSA CHANCE- YOUTUBE CLIP

JORDAN YOUNG SHINES

Jordan Young is really starting to live up to his signing ‘hype’ in recent games. Fresh from two assists at Plainmoor last weekend he was at the heart of every United attack this weekend, especially the second half. St Albans couldn’t live with him at times, and he was up against an impressive opponent in Tafari Moore so it wasn’t an easy afternoon for our No.8. His eagerness to be direct and run with the ball is so exciting to watch and if he can add more goals to his game we’re in for an entertaining end to the season.

He did bag himself a goal this weekend of course, stepping up to take the equalising penalty, an interesting decision as Cooke was still on the pitch. From my viewpoint behind the goal, it didn’t seem to be a disagreement between the two, but instead a mutual decision to swap usual takers, Cooke does have a little history with the St Albans Goalkeeper, as he missed a penalty at Clarence Park back in 2022 for Bath City, so maybe that played a part?

HIGHLIGHTS – YOUNG PENALTY – YOUTUBE CLIP

EVERY SATURDAY WE FOLLOW

Another impressive following from the Yellow Army boosted St Albans attendance to their biggest this season. There must have been 500-600 United fans there, willing the side on behind each goal we were attacking (The one bonus of not having segregation.) St Albans also put on a very good experience for the fans there too, Half-time Football darts for the kids, a number of very good local independent food outlets & lovely local beer served at all four corners of the ground. I’m sure those there from the Bryn Consortium took note of what could potentially be offered at Plainmoor in the future.