St Albans City FC V Chelmsford City FC
National League South, Clarence Park, Saturday 16th December 2023, 3:00pm kick-off.
Chelmsford City are aiming to record their seventh consecutive away victory in all competitions during this weekend’s trip to St Albans.
The Saints will look to prevent the Clarets’ strong away form from continuing by fighting to pick up just their fourth league win since coming away from the Melbourne Community Stadium with all three points at the end of September.
Robbie Simpson’s side currently sit 8th in the National League South on 32 points, six points above this weekend’s hosts who occupy 17th place in the league table.
Here’s all City supporters need to know ahead of this weekend’s clash…
Team & match stats:
· St Albans are without a clean sheet in their last 13 league, FA Cup and FA Trophy matches. The Saints’ last defensive shut-out in any of these competitions came in September, when they earned a 2-0 victory at the Melbourne Community Stadium.
· However, David Noble’s side have recorded clean sheets in each of their last three fixtures against the Clarets, with all three of these games ending in wins for the Saints as well.
· There have been less than 2.5 goals scored in six of the previous eight games between both sides.
Opposition:
After suffering a brutal play-off final defeat last season, David Noble’s side are currently experiencing a tough run of results as they look to rediscover the form which took them to within one game of promotion.
Noble first took on the Saints’ managerial reigns as Interim Head Coach in September last year before being given the role on a permanent basis two months later. The former Arsenal midfielder then guided his side to a 6th place finish last season, which was followed by play-off wins at Melbourne Community Stadium and Princes Park, thus securing a play-off clash against Oxford City.
Oxford ran out 4-0 winners that day, however St Albans recovered from this disappointment by starting the season relatively well, with 5 wins from their opening 10 games. Recently though, victories have been harder to come by for Noble’s side, with just 2 wins in the club’s last 8 league matches.
Striker Mitchell Weiss has been St Albans’ main goal threat so far this campaign. The 30-year-old was ruled out of St Albans’ previous league game against Worthing due to illness, but will hope to return to action this weekend as he looks to add to his tally of six goals scored during the season so far.
Former Claret Shaun Jeffers represents another attacking option for David Noble. Jeffers has found the back of the net 5 times in his 20 National League South appearances in 23/24. He scored 34 league goals in Claret across 71 appearances over two different spells in Essex. Since departing Melbourne Community Stadium for the second time in 2019, Chelmsford City have become Jeffers’ favourite opponent to play against. The forward has recorded 7 goals against his former club in 5 appearances, a career high for the 31-year-old against any team according to Transfermarkt.
Team News:
The fitness of defenders Dave Winfield and Cameron James will be assessed after the duo missed recent matches against Oxford City and Redbridge.
Liam Vincent is expected to remain sidelined due to an injury he picked up against Maidstone at the end of last month.
Following a few weeks out with a groin problem, Ody Alfa made his return to action during Monday’s penalty shootout defeat to Redbridge.
Getting there:
The trip from the Melbourne Community Stadium to Clarence Park takes around an hour by car.
At the time of writing, there are still spaces left on the Chelmsford City Supporters Club coach. The coach departs Melbourne Park for Clarence Park at 12:15pm on Saturday, and supporters can contact @CCFC_Coach on X if they wish to travel on the coach.
Rail services to St Albans City are departing London St Pancras International regularly on matchday. The station is an extremely short walk away from Clarence Park.
Ticketing information:
Ticket prices for Saturday’s game are as follows:
· Adults: £16.50
· Concessions: £11
· Next Gen (18‑23): £8
· Youth (12-18): £6
· Under 12s: Free
York Road turnstiles will be open from 12.15pm. The Clarence Park and Hatfield Road turnstiles will be open from 1.45 pm to 3.15 pm. Card payments only are accepted at the turnstiles.
How to follow the game:
Radio Clarets will be providing live audio commentary of proceedings at Clarence Park.
Clarets fans can find pre-match coverage of Saturday’s game, and live updates of proceedings in Hertfordshire by following the club’s X (formerly Twitter) page: @OfficialClarets and Instagram page: chelmsfordcityfc.
Post-match reactions will be found on the club’s website, official social media channels and on ClaretsTV.
Words by Jake Dixon.
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