Next Match – St Albans City (H)
St Albans City are the next visitors to check-in to Twerton Park this Saturday in City’s fourth successive home game, as sixth face fifth in National League South.
The Saints are unbeaten in eight in the league, six of them wins. Their current four game unbeaten run is more stand-out seeing as they’re currently without a manager. Having led St Albans to the Promotion Final last year before being soundly beaten by Oxford City, David Noble has found an alternative route to the National League, taking on the Wealdstone job, departing St Albans days after a 4-1 win over Havant & Waterlooville last month. Interim boss Jon Meakes and coach Harry Wheeler are overseeing the Hertfordshire club for now and might sway the board to give them the job permanently. A 4-0 win at Torquay and 6-0 home success over Taunton aren’t bad for the CV, alongside credible draws with Yeovil and Hampton.
The extraordinary form of Shaun Jeffers has contributed to a recent spate of big wins. The lethal finisher is now five shy of a century of goals for the Sains, having only made 155 appearances. Last week’s hat-trick took him up to 18 goals in all competitions since the start of December, having surprisingly been largely relegated to a substitute role between August and November. He was sent off on a Boxing Day loss to Hemel, their only league defeat in their last eleven.
He also has seven goals in the past against City, but will have to be at his best to break down the Romans, who boast the joint best defensive record in National League South alongside Braintree Town and Yeovil Town. Jerry Gill’s side have also kept five clean sheets in a row as Josey Casa-Grande is continuing his stunning start between the posts for the Stripes, yet to concede since signing on loan from Bristol City. At the other end, if City net it’ll be their 50th league goal of the season having hit 50 points following last week’s win over Dartford.
St Albans failed to score at all in their first seven trips to Twerton Park (six against City, one Team Bath) but it’s been a complete u-turn since, winning their last four matches at the venue with 11 netted. Last year saw a 3-1 success with Sonny Cox netting City’s consolation. Gill’s charges picked up a fine 2-0 win at Clarence Park in August thanks to a Scott Wilson penalty and Jack James own goal. They last completed a league double over the Saints in 2016/17. There have been 23 meetings between the two and just one draw. Only Torquay and Havant (three) have drawn fewer than St Albans’ four this term.
Come along to Twerton Park to see if these in-form teams can produce the high quality classic which recent performances suggest! You can save £1 by ordering your ticket before 23.45 on Friday 16 February here.
