St Albans City 1 Stourbridge 2

Both sides though had suffered a loss in mid-week and Stourbridge boss Gary Hackett reacted to the defeat sustained at Hungerford by dropping Ryan Rowe, Leon Broadhurst and Jamie Oliver to the bench with teenage defender Jean Kalenda brought in from Birmingham City on ‘work experience’ for his debut, while Will Richards was moved back up-front alongside Luke Benbow and Paul Lloyd drafted in at left-back.

The Hertfordshire hosts shaded the early exchanges. In the 5th minute a Richard Graham corner was partially cleared by Glassboys custodian Dean Coleman out towards John Frendo who hooked a first-time effort that drifted past the far post. Eight minutes later a ball from James Comley found the pacey Victor Osobu on the left-hand edge of the box and he shrugged off the attentions of Aaron Drake before stabbing his shot over the top. Six minutes later though Stourbridge forged ahead when Drake clipped a pass forward through the right-hand channel area and City left-back Lee Chappell made a mistake in letting the ball run past him, allowing the alert Ben Billingham to get around the back of the defender and he pounced on the ball and drove quickly into the penalty area before drilling home a rising shot from a tight angle past Paul Bastock in the St Albans goal. The home side responded with a spell of pressure, but Stourbridge defended resolutely and they might have added to their lead towards the half-hour mark after Jordan Fitzpatrick moved the ball inside from the left to Sean Geddes who picked out Billingham with a measured pass on the right-hand side of the area. He cut inside and might have shot then, but instead he checked back on to his right-foot past Chappell and hit a drive that was blocked by defender Ben Martin at the expense of a corner. Eight minutes before the interval a fine St Albans move almost brought them an equaliser as Mark Nwokeji fed Matt Taylor who managed to beat Nathan Bennett to reach the left-hand by-line before flashing a low centre across the face of the goal where Osobu slid in, but could only poke the ball wide. In first-half stoppage time Stourbridge survived another scare after a long throw-in from Chappell flew over the head of Martin and dropped into the six-yard box where Taylor tried a flick, but appeared to miss the ball, however his presence was enough to put off Coleman and the ball bounced off the Glassboys stopper as he tried to claim it, but the visitors managed to scramble the ball away from Frendo and Nwokeji.

The Saints threatened early in the second period with Comley providing a telling cross from the right towards the far post which was headed wide by Nwokeji, although his team-mate Martin may have been better positioned to get a header on target. Stourbridge replied on 56 minutes with Lloyd slipping a square pass inside to Benbow and he hit a low 20-yard shot that Bastock was equal to before St Albans returned on to the attack three minutes later with Coleman having to make a tip-over save from Howard Hall’s shot from just outside the right-hand edge of the box. Soon afterwards Taylor fed Comley and he worked an opening before striking a low shot that Coleman got safely behind, but in the 61st minute a moment of madness from Bastock led to the visitors doubling their advantage. A long ball forward was pursued by the hard working Richards. As the ball bounced up inside the right-hand side of the box, he jumped with Bastock and appeared to make a fair challenge with the veteran keeper managing to collect the ball cleanly, however the ‘red mist’ momentarily descended as Bastock flicked out at Richards with his boot. The offence was spotted by the officials and Bastock duly cautioned and a penalty awarded for his indiscretion, which was despatched by Sean Geddes for his 8th goal of the campaign. The manner of that goal looked to have knocked the stuffing out of the hosts for a time, despite a flurry of substitutions. A late rally saw Comley pull a left-wing corner back to Chappell on the edge of the box, but he fired wide of the far post. Stourbridge responded with Billingham combining with Richards on the right. A clever chip over a defender found the run of Richards and although he was stopped in his tracks, the ball broke to Drew Canavan who hit a low 20-yard shot past Bastock’s right-hand post. With the game in stoppage time, there was some late drama as the home side reduced the arrears in fortuitous fashion. Sub Harrison Georgiou fed the ball into Frendo and he turned and hit a left-foot shot that took a big deflection off Drake to leave Coleman completely wrong-footed with the ball dropping into the opposite side of the net and there was still sufficient time left for The Saints to win a free-kick in a dangerous area as Canavan upended Georgiou just outside the box, but with the last kick of the game, David Keenleyside curled his effort off-target and Gary Hackett’s men could breathe a sigh of relief and savour a hard-fought away win after a good team effort and ‘professional’ away performance.