The Saints face Farnborough at the Park in the final game of the National League South 2022/2023 season - and just a single point will be enough to guarantee a place in (**cough**) the playoffs! Come along and support the Saints in what should be an exciting encounter with Farnborough also potentially having a chance to slip into the playoff positions! A big crowd will be in attendance with ticket sales already going very, very well with a 2,000+ attendance already ensured. Expect a friendly, family atmosphere – without segregation – and you can enjoy a beer whilst watching from the terraces! The clubhouse and three pitchside bars will be serving a range of local craft beers, ales, lagers, cider, and wine. Multiple food areas will be serving a range of hot food, and soft drinks, and a waflle stall will have a fantastic range of desserts on offer! Hornets season ticket holders get admission at concession prices. Family discounts are also available. Tickets can be pre-purchased or purchased on the day from the turnstiles (card payments only). https://fanzone.stalbanscityfc.com/product/st-albans-city-v-farnborough-290423/ The End of Season Awards will be presented after the game in the FanZone and we then have Indie Herts playing acoustic covers of your indie music favourites in the clubhouse!
I thought St Albans were already in the play-offs but looked again and noticed they do indeed need a point to be sure, otherwise Havant would sneak 7th place if they win their last two games and Saints lose this one and there’s a seven goal swing, or Farnborough win their last two games by enough to catch up on GD (they’d need for instance a 3 goal win at Saints following a 4 goal win at home to Tonbridge). But that’s pretty unlikely, none of the opponents those two face are cannon fodder (Concord Rangers may be near the bottom but they’re playing Havant at home and are fighting for their lives), Farnborough don’t score many and Havant score a lot but also concede quite a few. Good to see St Albans finally back in promotion contention anyway, for just the second time at this level. I feel a club from a city that size should be doing a lot better than one season in the fifth tier - its population is only a little lower than that of Stevenage, and not far from that of Watford.
I might be going to this one. Haven’t been to watch The Saints for a while, usually a decent selection in the clubhouse so hopefully I can make it.
I am going to go on Saturday, great ground and great boozing. Helps that I can walk to the ground as well.
Thanks to everyone for getting yourselves along to the Park on Saturday. The attendance of 3,696 was a National League South record for the season - and the Saints 2-0 victory pushed them up to 6th place and into the playoffs. We face Chelmsford City this evening - with the winner then going to Dartford on Sunday. National League TV are live streaming tonight's match at https://www.nationalleaguetv.com/ (match pass is £9.50). Alternatively, Herts radio station, Mix 92.6 has live commentary https://mix926.com/
Well done to the Saints . Won 1/0 at Chelmsford . Dartford next . https://www.flashscore.com/match/jVGqAKVI/#/match-summary
Surprised to hear that but well done. Didn't Torquay have any gates higher than that when they won NLS? While on the whole I'm in favour of the play-off format (it's the same in the National League Premier and North) I don't agree with the winner of 5th vs 6th playing 2nd, the 7th place team really has to earn it by winning at 2nd after winning at 4th. Dartford may be a step too far, but it's not an insurmountable challenge - there are eight points between the teams, and there have been greater upsets in the play-offs.
It has come to my notice that St Albans' play-off final opponents, Oxford City, are managed by none other than Ross Jenkins (II) of this parish.
This would be Oxford City’s first season in the Conference (the generic name for the division that has existed since 1979, when it was initially the Alliance Premier League, and the election system was still used) although they have played at the fifth level before, when they played in the Isthmian and it was one of the top divisions of non-league before the 1979-80 season. They’ve been very up-and-down since the late 1980s, rising a long way from county league football before falling back down as recently as 2005 - https://fchd.info/OXFORDC.HTM In contrast, St Albans have been a lot more stable. https://fchd.info/ST-ALBAC.HTM I lived in Oxford when City won promotion to Conference North (not South!) in 2012 - a pretty historic occasion, and I was sorry to only hear about their triumph after it happened, as I would have definitely attended the Southern League play-off final while visiting their ground in Marston (a part of Oxford I wasn’t familiar with) for the first time had I known about it. Despite the name indicating some rivalry with Oxford United, the two have not played each other in the league since before United’s first season in the FL, if they’ve met at all - it’s a similar scenario with the two Cambridge clubs. Well, Oxford City vs Maidenhead United could be a nice Thames derby next season…
If you have access, the play off final between Oxford City and St Albans City is live on BT Sport 3 at 12.30 tomorrow. Come on City! Oh, "Saints" that is..........
In 1969/70, Cambridge Utd's last season in the Southern League before their first promotion to the Football League, both Cambridge clubs played in the Eastern Professional Floodlight League. They hsd squads of 16, so this was where they used their fringe players. The previous season there had been a brawl and the match was abandoned. Ill-feeling persisted, and United took the piss most entertaingly. Their manager, Bill Leivers, the former Man City central defender, played on the right wing, even though he must have been well over 40. A slightly built playmaker was in central defence, and a central defender was at centre forward. Don't remember the score, but United won.
Gutted. They did well to get to the final though. Like all losing finalists, at least they experienced the cyclone trial.
Saints had their Pereyra moment in the very first minute, a chance that should have been taken and then soon after it was 1-0 Oxford...oh well, there's always next season!
