Small margins go against Saints but point was very least they deserved says boss
Liam Sole blasts St Albans City level late on at Wealdstone. Picture: LEIGH PAGE - Credit: Archant
St Albans City manager Ian Allinson says “small margins” cost his side all three points as they battled back to salvage a 2-2 draw away to Wealdstone.
Liam Sole enjoyed scoring his first goal for St Albans City at Wealdstone. Picture: LEIGH PAGE - Credit: Archant
Two penalty decisions both went against Saints, with both involving Michael Clark.
Zane Banton looks to get a shot away for St Albans City at Wealdstone. Picture: LEIGH PAGE - Credit: Archant
The first saw the central defender appear to be fouled as City, already a goal up by this point thanks to Dave Diedhiou’s shot, mounted yet another attack. The referee and linesman both saw it differently, however.
Zane Banton in action against Wealdstone. Picture: LEIGH PAGE - Credit: Archant
The second though was given as Clark and collided just before half-time, with the man in the middle this time deciding to point to the spot.
Sam Merson returned to action following an extended lay-off. Picture: LEIGH PAGE - Credit: Archant
And having seen both decisions on the video, Allinson was in little doubt his side had been very unfortunate.
Zane Banton of St Albans City gets between two Wealdstone defenders. Picture: LEIGH PAGE - Credit: Archant
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He said: “You’ve seen the challenge, their lad has come in from behind and he’s got his arm on the back of Michael’s neck and he’s just played the man and not the ball and it’s a blatant penalty.
David Moyo powers a header at goal. Picture: LEIGH PAGE - Credit: Archant
“I’ve seen it three or four times now, in slow motion and real time.
Ben Herd in action against Wealdstone for St Albans City. Picture: LEIGH PAGE - Credit: Archant
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“What’s annoying is the referee and the linesman are both on that side so one of them needs to give the decision.
Lewis Knight in an aerial battle. Picture: LEIGH PAGE - Credit: Archant
“And then you question whether theirs is a penalty. You can’t see it properly but all of my team said it was never a penalty.
Tom Bender blasts one from range for St Albans City. Picture: LEIGH PAGE - Credit: Archant
“We’ve not made a challenge. Michael has stood still, their lad has run into him and the referee has given a penalty.
“Its small margins and we didn’t deserve that.”
They were to have the last laugh though as Liam Sole, on loan from Milton Keynes, bagged his first for the club with a late leveller.
He almost snatched the win in stoppage time as well but was denied by Jonathan North in the home goal. Had it gone in it would have been a fair outcome according to Allinson.
He said: We were by far the better team, we looked to try and take the game to them and they got the dodgy penalty just before half-time.
“We didn’t start the second half that bright. They’ve got the second goal and we probably had five minutes of the second half where we didn’t turn up and for the rest of the game we bossed it.
“But we were totally in charge and the equaliser was no more than what we deserved.
“It’s just a shame we haven’t come away with three points.”
