Veteran Hayles bags two to defeat ten man Redditch
Redditch United's losing streak has now been extended to three games after losing 2-0 to North London side St Albans City at the Valley Stadium. Asa Charlton's 2nd half straight red gave St Albans an advantage. Substitute and ex-Fulham legend Barry Hayles benefited from two goalkeeping errors to score a brace and ensure his team travel back to North London tonight with the three points.
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| Experienced forward Hayles in action. |
Redditch will be disappointed as they controlled large periods of the match despite being a man down. However, they barely tested Nick Jupp in the St Albans goal which indicates they are still certainly missing a out and out striker, despite valiant displays from Connor Deards and Joel Grandison.
They was little to shout about in the opening stages of the contest with both sides having an even share of possession St Albans players berated the referee after 2 minutes when they felt they should have been given a penalty after a shot in hit Flanagan's arm. However, the referee waved away any protests and was never going to give them the decision as Flanagan's arms were tucked in.
St Albans were dealt an early blow when top scorer Lewis Toomey was forced to come off after only 15 mins with a suspected hamstring injury. 40 year old Barry Hayles who signed for St Albans at the beginning of the season from Truro City replaced Toomey and quickly began to make his mark on the game.
Hayles was constantly a danger and comfortable in possession. After 25 minutes he made some space for himself by passing his man on the edge of the box only to see his curling effort narrowly whistle over the bar.
finally started to mark their mark on the match after 30 mins when good work after some good quick passing found make shift striker Joel Grandison on the edge of the box. Under pressure from St Albans defenders, Grandison quickly takes a low shot off balance which forces Jupp to make a save on his left hand side. This led to a spell of dominance for Redditch with St Albans barely testing them before the half time interval, sadly they could not convert this decent spell into a goal.
Redditch started the 2nd half the brighter side when Joel Grandison beat a couple of players but powered his shot well over the bar.
However, Redditch were dealt a huge blow on 54 minutes when Assistant Player-Manager Asa Charlton was given a straight red card. Charlton had made a charging run with the ball from left back but had unfortunately over ran it. In an attempted to hook the ball away from the opposing player, Charlton had his studs up and high which left the referee with no choice but to send him off and reduce Redditch to ten men.
Despite the disadvantage Redditch showed great character for the final half hour of the match, they counter attacked well and created the better opportunities whilst Hickman and Flanagan remained solid at the back.However, a lack of creativity bullishness in front of goal and around the area meant they did not test Jupp and St Albans capitalised.
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| Asa Charlton sent off for high challange |
Redditch continued to fight back and were determined to get a goal. Their best chance of the second half came when some trickery from Stuart Hendrie on the left wing allowed him to wriggle free of the St Albans right back and fizz a low cross across the box, only to for substitute Simon Johnson to see the ball late and fluff the chance.
St Albans killed off the match on 87 minutes after another goalkeeping mistake from James Wren. Redditch had a free kick on the edge of the box which Joel Grandison tamely hit into the wall. St Albans then cleared the ball which found its way to Flanagan in the Redditch half. Flanagan then passed the ball back to Wren who nervously booted the ball first time. his kick was poor and was driven low and into the path of the countering Barry Hayles who showed why he was once a Premier League striker with an experienced cool finish one on one to slot it past Wren and seal the points for St Albans.
The result leaves Redditch 17th in the Southern Premier division However, they have played 3 more games than many sides around them so they will be vary that they may be in a relegation battle if they are not careful. They can take heart from their battling performance and were certainly good for a draw for most of the game. However, the lack of goals and the need for a proven striker is a huge concern and something that must be rectified by Redditch Manager Simon Redhead in the coming weeks if Redditch want to steer themselves away from another relegation battle.
