St Albans City lose pre-season finale

St Albans City ended their pre-season campaign with a 1-0 loss to Woking at Clarence Park.

Scott Rendell scored from the penalty spot in the 51st minute after Lewis Hilliard pushed Bruno Andrade in the box.

Andrade, a former QPR winger who had two loan spells at Stevenage last season, was Woking’s biggest threat in a game that had all the hallmarks off a pre-season friendly: a lack of tempo, a raft of substitutions and not many goal-scoring opportunities at either end.

Tom Coulton, in the St Albans City goal for Joe Welch, had a very good outing. He guessed wrong against Rendell’s down-the-middle penalty but he responsible for keeping the scoreline close.

His best save came in the second half when, going to his right, he stretched out his right hand to push Guiseppe Sole’s header to safety. Coulton also caught crosses confidently and his kicking was much improved from the last time he played for the Saints. In truth, Woking could and should have tested him a lot more but struggled to hit the target.

At the other end, chances were few and far between. New signing Louie Theophanous failed to build on his goal-scoring debut at Hitchin Town on Thursday and was kept quiet by Woking’s defence. Scott Thomas, City’s new defensive midfielder, had a decent first game, as did the defence of James Comley, Darren Locke, Ben Martin and John Kyriacou.

Sam Corcoran had City’s best chance of the match. After Comley split the defence with an excellent ball, he scuffed his shot wide.

The competitive season begins on Tuesday at Ware in the Herts Charity Cup and the Vanarama National League South four days later at Gosport Borough.