St Albans City v Dartford Sat 16 Aug 2025

[Park Life]

HT 1-0

[Kermo18]

Personally thought Micheal being made captain was a massive gamble.
Always has a mistake or booking in him.

[Dart of Herts]

We’ve dominated this half and the ref has been decent tbh. Michael. Michael. Michael. I dunno, what do you do? We’re f*cked now though.

Agreed. Anyone get a decent look at the handball? Looked to me like he slid to stop the cross and the cutback hit his arm as he fell

[Mark Sweet]

We’ve dominated this half and the ref has been decent tbh. Michael. Michael. Michael. I dunno, what do you do? We’re f*cked now though.

Agreed. Anyone get a decent look at the handball? Looked to me like he slid to stop the cross and the cutback hit his arm as he fell

If that's the case he should not have been sent off due to the double punishment rule. Any genuine attempt at the ball that results in a penalty cannot be a red card aswell.

[Jonty]

The commentary team mentioned that their player was possibly offside and the shot Michael blocked with his arm was actually covered by Henly in goal. Bad luck or not, this is not a very good start to the season. Will be hard to get something from this game from here, just so disappointing after so much optimism leading up to this season.

[KentC]

We’ve dominated this half and the ref has been decent tbh. Michael. Michael. Michael. I dunno, what do you do? We’re f*cked now though.

Agreed. Anyone get a decent look at the handball? Looked to me like he slid to stop the cross and the cutback hit his arm as he fell

If that's the case he should not have been sent off due to the double punishment rule. Any genuine attempt at the ball that results in a penalty cannot be a red card aswell.

If the ball hits him it’s not a red.
Genuine attempt is more for a tackle preventing a goal scoring opportunity

[Mark Sweet]

Agreed. Anyone get a decent look at the handball? Looked to me like he slid to stop the cross and the cutback hit his arm as he fell

If that's the case he should not have been sent off due to the double punishment rule. Any genuine attempt at the ball that results in a penalty cannot be a red card aswell.

If the ball hits him it’s not a red.
Genuine attempt is more for a tackle preventing a goal scoring opportunity

Either way by what I've heard it's not a red
It's not like he's saved a goal with his arm as if he was a keeper.

[Grassbank]

I was enjoying listening to the commentary whilst working in the garden. The commentator, who is doing an excellent job, immediately called it a blocked shot and expected the red card. The reporter via X thought the handball unintentional. Perhaps the ref had the same angle as the commentator. Either way, we have a mountain to climb for the second time in eight days and may once again be forced to consider damage limitation.

The suggestion that the St Albans player was possibly offside just makes the whole mess worse.

It will need a massive performance to bring a point back from our travels this afternoon. We will presumably play just one up front and run ourselves into the ground in an attempt to cover for the missing player.

Not the start to the season that I had expected, but character building none the less. Keep going guys, our luck has to turn at some time.

[Park Life]

2-0

[Park Life]

Sub:-
Okoye for Williams

[Park Life]

Sub:-
Dsane for Box

[Mark Sweet]

If only we had a plan B

[Park Life]

Sub:-
Campbell & Eze for Jones & Olopade

[Park Life]

Attendance 928

[Park Life]

FT 2-0

[Dart of Herts]

Was always gonna be difficult after the red but we’re missing a CB or GK who can command the back - same problem as two years ago.

I can deal with the disappointing football but our fans were embarrassing today

Edit: just to clarify I’m talking about the lads that tried to start a fight at the home end after their second goal then tried to start something outside the ground at FT

[WillDfc42]

Looked like a mid table clash today.

No Samir = big lack of creativity unfortunately

[Babylon]

Not panicking yet but one point, one goal for and seven against is not the best of starts.

[Lars Resort]

Be nice to keep 11 on the pitch as shown on Tuesday evening.
Still, it'll come, I'm sure.

[Tony H]

Thought we were the better of the two teams for much of the first half until we conceded the penalty late on. Second half, and a player down, we were left with having to chase the game and, calamitous defending led to their second. All things being equal, and in my humble opinion, there isn’t a lot between us and St Albans but again we’ve come away without anything.

Jez Pinder was good again in the first half. Callum Jones wil run forever. Good to see Sam Okoye back out on the pitch. Pinder gets my MoM vote.

Summing up, we need to get a win and soon.