Weston lost their 3rd game of the season to highflying St Albans 3-1 in a game without much quality despite the number of goals in the match.
The first half saw many chances for both sides, the first of which went to the visitors; Dayle Grubb headed a long ball down to Ben Seymour who played a through ball through the box to Archie Collins and after a bit of twisting and turning, the Exeter City loanee managed to square the ball to Jake Reid who fired narrowly wide.
Despite this though, the first goal of the game came for St Albans; they drove through the midfield towards goal, Sam Merson picked the ball up and smashed a fine finish into the bottom left corner across Luke Purnell to put the home side 1-0 up in the 16th minute.
The Seagulls quickly fought back though, with Danny Greenslade’s whipped cross seen as being blocked by the arm of a defender inside the box, winning a penalty which Dayle Grubb coolly converted into the bottom left corner. After that St Albans flashed a few pot shots but nothing too worrying for Purnell. For Weston, Grubb had a sight of goal but he couldn’t get a shot off, Reid powered through a couple of defenders but again, couldn’t get a meaningful shot in on goal and the score remaned 1-1 going into half time.
Neither side dominated the second half, both teams seeming a little passive and conservative, however Reid certainly dominated the two centre-backs he was up against; he won pretty much everything aerially and did everything required of him as a target man, yet Weston struggled to create many clear-cut chances.
But for the second time in a week the Seagulls conceded what can only be described as a wonder goal; Rhys Murrell Williamson was played the ball from a short corner and with pretty much his first touch after being subbed on, used the time and space he was given to bend a shot into the top left corner. There was nothing Purnell could do to prevent it, the shot was just perfect and left Weston 2-1 down after 74 minutes.
Purnell capped off a very impressive game with a beautiful save getting two hands to a direct free kick from 25 yards that seemed destined for the top corner but somehow he prevented it from hitting the back of the net.
Weston’s best chance to equalize was when Aden Baldwin powered a header past the goalkeeper following a corner but there was St Albans defender to head off of the line; there could be an argument to be made that the ball had crossed the line but the referee wasn’t interested.
Directly following that chance St Albans broke forward and passed around the edge of the box before firing a low cross in that Charlie Walker flicked past Purnell to make the score 3-1, and that’s how the game ended.
The Seagulls will look to pick up their first win of the season on Tuesday night at the Woodspring Stadium where they face Gloucster City; we hope to see you there.
FT: St Albans 3-1 Weston A.F,C
Weston XI: Purnell, Harper, Pope, Baldwin, Greenslade, Kington, Lee, Collins, Seymour (72 Welch), Reid, Grubb.
MOTM: Luke Purnell.