Poole Town 0 St Albans City 1: Five-star Saints shine on coast
St Albans Rhys Murrell-Williamson celebrates scoring the winning goal at Poole (pic Leigh Page) - Credit: Archant
St Albans City made it five wins in five National League South outings with a 1-0 victory at Poole Town.
St Albans Zane Banton puts pressure on the Poole defense (pic Leigh Page) - Credit: Archant
The visitors started the game well and dominated possession, although Kieran Monlouis’ two early speculative efforts failed to trouble the home goal.
St Albans Kieran Monlouis in action against Poole Town (pic Leigh Page) - Credit: Archant
The Saints looked eager to continue the form that had seen them to an impressive victory at Chelmsford in midweek, but struggled to create any clear openings as Charlie Walker and Zane Banton had efforts blocked inside the box.
The hosts had their first sight of goal in the 32nd minute after a rare error from the Saints defence when a stray ball bounced off Layne Eadie and into the path of Steve Devlin, who hit an effort across goal that failed to trouble Dean Snedker.
The only goal came eight minutes later when Banton cut in from the right and beat several Poole players in the box before being tackled, with the ball falling for Rhys Murrell-Williamson to take a couple of touches before hitting a perfectly angled effort into the far corner of the net.
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Poole could have been back on level terms prior to half-time as Steve Devlin’s free-kick from the right was floated in towards Spetch, but the defender’s header was straight at Snedker when he should have done much better.
The hosts came out after the break looking bright and Snedker was called upon to make an important save before the hour as Devlin, last season’s top scorer for the Dolphins, picked the ball up in the middle of the field and sent a powerful 25-yard drive that the goalkeeper saw late but did well to palm away.
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Poole pushed forward in search of an equaliser but failed to make inroads as Saints sat back and soaked up the pressure.
Dickinson came closest to levelling in the late stages, but his strike was blocked by the impressive Harold Joseph, who gave another excellent defensive performance for the Saints.
Substitutes Sam Merson and Shaun Lucien had chances to extend City’s lead as the game ticked into additional time, but the visitors held on and ensured that stayed top of the table going into the Bank Holiday weekend.
St Albans City: Snedker; Herd; Eadie; Noble (Kiangebeni 86); Gardiner; Joseph; Murrell-Williamson; Sambou; Monlouis; Walker (Merson 84); Banton (Lucien 85). Unused subs: Gibson; Allinson-Stalham.
