St Albans City V Dulwich Hamlet

Thanks to all the Hornets who turned up on Sunday to cheer us on - what a night!!

Next Tuesday evening, we are back in league action when we face Dulwich Hamlet at Clarence Park. We of course share a bit of FA Cup history with them as back in 1922, Saints' forward, William "Billy" Minter, scored seven times but Dulwich won 8-7... Still remains the FA Cup record for goals scored by a player in the losing side...

Dulwich are likely to bring a decent sized following, our ticketing sales are going well and we've ordered in plenty of beer as, no longer subject to FA alcohol restrictions, this fixture allows the consumption of alcohol in sight of the pitch..!

Tickets can be purchased at: https://fanzone.stalbanscityfc.com/product/st-albans-city-v-dulwich-hamlet-161121/

Hornets ST holders get admission at the concession price.

 

Sorry mate but unless this game is on BBC, I’m not interested because I can’t pretend gloat and lie about going.

 

That's a shame. I went to their last home game vs Eastbourne Boro. Great exciting game. EB went in front after 17 minutes through their player, Kendall. It looked as though it was going to be a frustrating afternoon and Citeh were going to be out of luck but we came back to equalise after 81 minutes through Goddard (or "Goddy" as we call him). Then the guys managed to get a late winner in the 86th minute through Weiss ("Weissy"). End to end stuff but despite a few late scares the guys held on for a really important 3 points. Shame it wasn't on the TV, you'd have enjoyed it as much as I did.

 

Is Dulwich really a hamlet?

 

Four cottages, a couple of pigstys and a pub. They've done very well to get to a level where they play a City.

 

Close, but no cigar.

 

I shall be at the Wealdstone v Barnet derby. Should be a cracker

 

I was there, and was at the Causals game too. Loving the cup run. I'll be going to the Boreham Wood match.

What's the latest with the new stadium? Did Covid put the brakes on it?

 

You'll be lucky to get a St Albans ticket. They seem to be making a bit of a mess of sales. There'll no doubt be plenty in the Boreham Wood areas of the ground, though.

 

To see 'Billy' Minter hit seven in 1922?

 

I'm getting a couple through other channels.

 

Yes, but his 5th was definitely offside.

They didn't have VAR back then, but they did use to have a guy sitting on the touchline and he'd quickly sketch the build up. The referee would check his drawing to see if he was offside or not for tight calls. Unfortunately, the artist's ruler broke so he had to draw the lines freehand and they went a bit wonky.

 

Are you still staging the Under-23 PL2 Cup match on Monday evening, and if so is it 'open' to the public please ? Never seems to be any info on the WFC website until after games have been played !

 

Boreham Wood are responsible for ticket sales as the home club. Unfortunately, their system struggled this morning when our season ticket holders had priority. Classic "you cant please everyone" situation, as some fans think its unfair season ticket holders get priority and then some season ticket holders want a greater allocation.... Ultimately, we could sell out their ground but we will no doubt have at least 1,000 of the 3,500 capacity.

 

Will see if we can find out.... it would be unusual for us to host a game the day before we need the pitch

 

I don't think anyone thinks it's unfair for season ticket holders to have priority. That is absolutely standard across the game. But allowing season ticket holders to buy four when there are, apparently, around 300 season ticket holders and only 1,000 tickets available makes little sense.

While Boreham Wood are responsible for actually selling the tickets, I believe St Albans City agreed to the general policy. Clearly they've realised it was an error because now season ticket holders and members can only buy two but the chances of them reaching general sale are, I gather, still very slim.

 

We had two challenges - one that Boreham Wood were offering up to 4 tickets for their season ticket holders and also that we have a sizeable number of family season tickets which are 4 tickets linked to a single email address (these are also mainly 2 x adulst and 2 x under 16s rather than under 12s). Season ticket holders are also more likely to purchase tickets for other regular match goers

 

Thanks, up-to-date info will be much appreciated.

 

Aaaah - just seen it on fixtures page on website. Moved to Tues 23rd !

 

That seems high. I understood the FA Cup rules state that the away team is entitled to 15% of the ground capacity, subject to any safety considerations. I remember for our quarter-final at Arsenal in 2016 we had nearly 9,000 fans at the Emirates, something like three times the number for a league game. 15% of a 3,500 capacity would imply a little over 500 tickets for Saints fans, unless the demand from Borehamwood is very low for some reason.

 

That makes sense, Boreham Wood have a very small fanbase, their average attendance in 2018/19 and so far this season has been smaller than St Albans', despite the latter playing a division lower and having a similarly good season to the Wood's.

 

TBF to the, very commercially minded club, they do a lot of work with the next generation of supporters which is free season tickets to local primary school pupils - I don't know if these show up in the attendance figures.

From: https://www.borehamwoodfootballclub.co.uk/uncategorized/important-pre-sale-ticket-information/

 

Free tickets have to be counted in attendance figures. Danny Hunter has complained for years about the lack of backing the club gets from locals who choose to go elsewhere for their football

 

A very marmitey character here in the 'Wood. His dynasty has managed to turn a fair-to-middling non-league side into a very successful/profitable business but at a cost of, effectively, severing all playing links to the community. With the guaranteed, relative, riches from the Gooner Ladies (the WSL in its various reincarnations) it was felt that he sacrificed promotion as it would have meant greater FA scrutiny of the books. Some of his 'strange' decisions can be seen by the sale of, the fantastically named, Kabongo Tschimanga, who was a goalscoring machine to 'our' promotion rivals Chesterfield.

As regards to his whingeing about the 'locals' (most of whom are descendants of London/Cockney WW2 evacs) lack of support: does he not grasp they have the time & money to watch a better 'product' (on TV or on the terraces) in the PL? It's Hunter's involvement that's the barrier for me swapping the 'Orns for the 'Wood in my affections. But saying that many, like me, will drag ourselves to Broughinge Rd (showing my age) to see their "2nd team" when they're on a roll. At least to wearing of 'other colours' to the 'Wood has stopped.

 

St Albans lost a 3-4 thriller tonight.

Surprised to see Dulwich in 2nd, first time I've noticed they're in the mix.

 

I went to this. Bloody love football me. The scenes at the end were amazing. I feel so good about myself being able to tell you this. So much better than the PL.

 

Think I saw you there. Were you the guy standing on his own with a Saintsulwich half'n'half scarf ?
Great goals from Goddy, Jeffy and Banty.
Real football.

 

Well the @Wood Army is certainly in good voice tonight - you could clearly hear the roar when the equalizer was scored (against Notts County) and I'm just under 1.5km away...

 

Francis Bacon, Pope Adrian IV*, Donovan, Bruce Forsyth**, Nick Helm, Adam Lallana, Mark “C**t” Lawson - vi har slått dem alle sammen, vi har slått dem alle sammen! Daisy Cooper can you hear me? Daisy Cooper ... your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!

* Possible Hornet.
**From 1958 but FFS it’s Brucie.

 

Happy to see the St Albans thugs were handed a frightful beating last night. Very happy indeed.

 

Any aggro at the game? Was it at St.Albans or Borehamwood?

 

Doubtful.

 

What's happened to St Albans? They were flying earlier in the season and doing really well in the cups but they've fallen badly off the pace in recent months - if they carry the form they've shown since February into next season, they could be in serious trouble.