On a wet afternoon at the Woodspring, Weston were downed 2-3 by visitors St Albans City, despite the Seagulls going two up inside the opening 23 minutes.
Inside the opening few minutes, pinball in the St Albans area led to a clearance hitting Jarrad Welch and bouncing off of the keeper’s knee from close range as Weston looked to start in the ascendency.
Following the early substitute of Gethyn Hill on for Jamie Lucas, with the striker pulling up with what looked to be a groin injury nine minutes in, the Seagulls took the lead. Phipps and Bristol City loanee George Nurse played a smart one-two down the left, the former releasing the latter, and the left-back’s drilled effort from an angle nestled in the corner to break the deadlock.
Ben Swallow cut inside onto his left foot, and curled over the bar from outside the area after being fed the ball by Welch before Weston got a second.
Welch took range from 18 yards, Snedker parrying away from his goal. The ball came back to the Welshman thanks to Harold Joseph’s woeful clearance, and after getting the ball out of his feet, he wonderfully curled the ball into the top corner from the edge of the area.
Zane Banton pulled one back for the visitors when he got a yard of space outside of Weston’s area, and he drilled into the far corner despite Luke Purnell getting his fingertips to the strike.
Eli Phipps could have grabbed his second league goal of the season thanks to skipper Jacob Cane’s hassling. He won the ball in midfield, driving forward and slipped in the summer signing, however Phipps couldn’t get enough power on the shot from inside the area and his effort rolled weakly into the arms of Snedker.
St Albans got their equaliser when Welch met a Swallow cross, but his header was into Snedker’s arms. The goalkeeper launched a long ball over the Weston defence for quick forward Ralston Gabriel, and he lofted the ball over Purnell and into the corner for 2-2.
After the interval, Phipps’ hard work almost paid off as he intercepted a pass, drove past two visiting defenders but his pull-back was cut out before it could reach anyone in the centre. Jake Lee was on hand to keep the scores level when Banton got in down the left and his cross to Gabriel was met by the forward. His powerful effort beat Purnell, but the centre-back hammered clear off the line to safety.
Hill’s effort was clawed away by Snedker after pinball in the St Albans box following a Welch free-kick, and Phipps could have had a goal to his name when moments later, Swallow’s cross found the former Cardiff City academy graduate, yet his headed effort was kept out by Snedker.
Another chance fell the way of Phipps, but this time a lick of paint prevented him. Pope’s pass into the channel found the run of Hill, who outmuscled past his man at the byline and pulled back for Phipps. With just the defender to beat on the goal-line, Phipps smacked his effort off the bar, a real chance to get Weston ahead.
St Albans got the winner though when Ben Wyatt’s strong run down the left picked out Banton in the middle, who took a touch to compose himself before stabbing into the corner and completing the comeback.
Two chances towards the end fell the way for Weston. Substitute Tristan Plummer’s ball over the top for Hill was wonderfully weighted, but the striker curled wide once cutting onto his right foot. Plummer was the last to get an opportunity, as he cut inside from the left but his low effort was into Snedker’s arms.
FT: Weston 2 – 3 St Albans (Nurse 17,Welch 23 – Banton 26,71, Gabriel 39)
Weston XI: Purnell, Parsons, Nurse, Cane (C), Pope, Lee, Swallow, Diallo, Lucas (Hill 9), Welch (McGrory 87), Phipps (Plummer 71). Unused substitutes: Byrne, Kingston.
MOTM: Jake Lee-Possibly one of his best performances in a Weston shirt to date, his commanding and vocal presence at the back sadly wasn’t enough to see the Seagulls get anything on this occasion though.