Salisbury FC took all three points back to Wiltshire in the National League South after beating St Albans City 4-3.
Match report by Toby Pike.
The first five minutes of the game were very uneventful. Both sides looked for the other to make the first mistake.
In the 6th minute a break from Aiden Elliot-Wheeler took the ball right outside the hosts box where Jordan Thompson was played in, his effort was deflected just outside the penalty area to the feet of Josh Hedges who picked out the bottom corner brilliantly.
After the goal, St Albans had most of the possession. The Hertfordshire side couldn’t create any real openings thanks to the resolute way Salisbury defended.
In the 22nd minute, Salisbury threatened the host’s goal again. Tom Leggett picked up possession in the middle of the park. The midfielder then clipped the ball over the St Albans backline to find Noah Coppin, who took the ball to the byline and chipped a cross towards the back post. However, no one was there to get on the end of it.
A couple of minutes later, in the 28th minute, Josh Hedges set Aiden Elliot-Wheeler through on the St Albans goal. The young attacker stroked the ball past Michael Johnson to double the Whites’ advantage.
Salisbury started to break through the St Albans defensive lines with a degree of ease for a spell. A corner taken quickly and short ended up at the feet of Josh Hedges, who found defender Josh Sommerton’s head; Sommerton headed back across goal to find the far side top corner.
Just before halftime, the hosts looked to have produced their first opening when a low ball was fizzed in. However, Tom Leggett set himself successfully to clear the danger to preserve Salisbury’s 3-0 lead going into the break.
The second half began, and St Albans came out searching for a way back into the game. Two-headed chances from substitute Makise Evans both flew over the bar.
The next ten minutes saw a small lull where not a lot of ground was given. However, it was broken after some superb work once again by Josh Hedges in the box to find Noah Coppin, who finished well for his first National League South goal for the Whites.
Salisbury were not able to keep the four-goal lead for long, as just two minutes later (59’) substitute Makise Evans scored to peg the Whites back.
After the St Albans goal, Dutton decided to freshen things up with a substitution. Aaron McCreadie replaced Ryan Penny, who was starting for the first time since his recovery from injury.
A few minutes later also saw the introduction of Craig Fasanmade for Noah Coppin, followed by Ronan Silva replacing Aiden Elliott-Wheeler.
In the 75th minute, St Albans scored another, Ken Charles heading powerfully into the Salisbury net from a corner.
Despite the hosts getting their tails up, Salisbury managed to keep the St Albans backline on red alert with Jordan Thomas, who fired over after some good footwork to beat his man.
A passage of tired-looking football saw keeper Michael Johnson give the ball to Ronan Silva, who tried to loft it into the vacant St Albans net, but it floated well wide.
The fourth official indicated six added minutes. A minute into stoppage time, St Albans made things very interesting. Shaun Jeffers flicked on a cross to give the hosts a real chance of some points.
Dutton turned to his bench once more to bring on an extra defender in the form of Luke Wilkinson for tired forward Josh Hedges.
Some scrappy football led to the ball falling to Aaron Mccreadie next to the Dugouts, Phil Chinedu went in recklessly off his feet to take Mccreadie down and earning himself marching orders.
Salisbury went on to close the final minutes out to relieve the nervous travelling support.
Next for Salisbury is the visit of Hornchurch on Saturday, 12th October – kickoff at 3pm. Tickets can be bought here – https://www.salisburyfc.co.uk/tickets/
