NLS: St Albans City v Torquay United 3pm 19 August 2023

I think the highlights give a fair reflection of the game.

We created multiple chances in the first half on either wing and, for want of a decent striker, could have been 3 or 4 ahead at half time. St Albans came back into the game in the second half and missed a sitter, but then so did we. How Stobbs missed that second-half chance I simply don't know, it's as if he didn't see the defender stood in front of him so shot straight at him instead of placing it to the side and into the empty net.

We didn't have as much control kicking down the hill as we had in the first half, yet still made a few very good chances. Ash seems reluctant to shoot from outside the area, as do all of our players. We used de Silva as an effective outlet for almost all of the game, the only worrying sign was that we were still kicking the ball down the left-hand channel for him after he had been substituted with 20 minutes to go. I was unimpressed with Stobbs. he is very good at getting past his man but his delivery seems to go awry as if faced with two choices he always picks the wrong one. I suppose this could have been a result of Jarvis' absence as he only had one striker to aim for and that one, Ash, was usually closely marked. So many of the chances we had in the first half seemed gift-wrapped for Jarvis and there was nobody to replace his movement and aerial strength.

Ash picked up a needless booking for kicking the ball away. Once he gets five bookings and has to miss a game we will presumably be back to only fielding one striker, and that stupidity in kicking the ball away could cost us points. There was another booking towards the end, I think for Jenkins-Davies, and I really don't know what it was for. If anyone was fouled it was J-D but it actually looked a fair challenge by both players.

I will say that we defended, er, stoutly. After about an hour I was going to say that Saints never looked like scoring but was worried I might jinx the result. But in reality they never looked like scoring. A lot of that was down to our defensive organisation and work rate. I thought Lapslie played very well, as did Marshall. Martin and de Silva combined effectively down the left and caused Saints all sort of problems. I didn't think anyone had a bad game, but we just lacked a cutting edge that would have brought us a comfortable win. Instead of which it turned into a nail-biting last 20 mins of huff and puff as we worked hard, successfully as it turned out, to defend a one-goal lead.

A win is a win and, as I said leaving the ground, if we win promotion by playing like that I will be happy. But I don't think I will enjoy watching many games if they are all like that. It really wasn't a very pleasant experience.