St Albans v Carlisle - a good old-fashioned FA Cup-tie
With a crowd of 3,473 anticipating a good afternoon's FA Cup football, nobody could complain about getting value-for-money in this game!
On paper Carlisle looked the much stronger side but they were rocked back after 4 minutes when Junior Morias' swerving shot found the corner of the net. Carlisle kept passing the football around the pitch and City were unable to stop cross after cross coming in from Nicky Adams down the Carlisle left. With the dangerous combination of Charlie Wyke and Jabo Ibhere up front St Albans were hanging on.
On 20 monutes the visitors were awarded a penalty after the home keeper committed a foul in the area. Carlisle skipper Danny Grainger stroked home the spot kick to the relief of the 500 travelling fans. 1-1 at half-time.
In the second-half Carlisle stepped up the pace and re-took the lead. But back came City who equalised with a brilliant turn and shot by Junior Morais.
Unfortunately for the home side their inability to close down space in midfield let Carlisle hit them on the break with three more goals. A late consolation by Louie Theophanous, a rasping shot from 20 yards, gave the scoreline a bit more respectability but it was the League Two side who progress.
With Junior Morais and Gozie Ugwu both getting braces and Elliott Benyon a hat-trick at Hemel Hempstead it's been a week-end of goals by ex-Wanderers.
Comments
Full marks to Junior Morias for scoring two really good goals, to take him to 10 this season. The second one in particular took my eye, very composed and clinical. I never rated him at Wycombe, never looked like scoring, but I’ve seen him a few time since then and he scores every time. He really unsettled Carlisle, so much so that, Keith Curle substituted defender Michael Raynes before half time, after getting booked for fouling Junior, then clattering into him again and being very lucky not to earn a second yellow.
The sight of Junior, head down, steaming towards the defence with his short, quick, strides, is a joy. It doesn’t always come off, and when it doesn’t he really beats himself up. If more of his team mates had his passion, the Saints might have caused an upset but they were a bit naive at times and stood off their opponents too much, and in the end Carlisle’s know how and experience saw them through relatively comfortably. They are, after all, unbeaten in all 20 games this season, not counting the penalty shoot-out defeat against Derby. Louie Theophanous’ goal was also very impressive, I thought he waited for the game to come to him a little too much, but he has now scored 16 this season. He is, incidentally, the body double for Christiano Ronaldo in the Nike adverts.
There were just under 600 Carlisle fans there, their coaches set off at 6am, and they really enjoyed their visit, looking at their comments afterwards. St Albans hosted the game very well, they initially announced that the adult ticket price would be £18 but reduced it to £15 after pressure from supporters. That is their normal league price, which is high for that level, but then the Office of National Statistics said this year that St Albans has the highest median house price of anywhere in England and Wales, £390k compared to £380k in London.
Clarence Park is a great ground, with three sides of full, steeply stepped terracing, which gives an excellent view. When we played there in 86-87 the famous oak tree, in the middle of the terrace behind the goal, was still there – a photo at http://www.pyramidpassion.co.uk/St._Albans_tree_copyright.jpg. It was one of the reasons why they were turned down for promotion to the Conference in ’93, then it became ‘diseased’ in the late ‘90s and was removed in spite of a preservation order.
This is rather surprising...
http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/11/07/peterborough-agree-deal-for-striker-morias/
Like how when we manage to change our name during the article.
"After starting out as a youth player at Fulham, Morias joined Wycombe Wanderers in 2012 and he made his debut as a 17-year-old for the Chairboys.
Morias struggled to establish himself at Wigan and had two loan spells at Hendon and Boreham Wood before leaving Wycombe in 2014, having made 29 appearances without scoring a goal."
Couldn't bring myself until now to read a thread about St Albans City but glad I did. The reference to Junior Morias going to Peterborough is interesting (as are his goal-scoring stats). I was tickled by the reference to his failure to make an impression at Wigan. It reminded me of a misunderstanding between me and a bartender in Crete when we played Cheltenham in the first leg of the play-off semi-final in May 2006. A group of Wycombe Sports Centre 50+ members included half a dozen Blues fans so we made our way to the nearest bar with Sky Sports. Kick off time arrived and still no sign of Adams Park or even football. Worse, a rugby match was in progress. It slowly dawned on me that the bartender had misheard my earlier request and had made sure Wigan RFC's match was tuned in. He soon switched channels but what followed was disappointing to say the least - a 2-1 home defeat.
I'm with the bartender, @micra - I have trouble understanding what you are chuntering on about most of the time...
So do I.