St Albans City’s five game unbeaten spell was ended on Saturday when they were defeated 1-0 away from home at National League South table toppers Wealdstone.
A recent resurgence had seen the Saints climb out of the relegation places with wins over Hemel Hempstead and Weymouth after three consecutive draws against Chelmsford City, Hampton & Richmond Borough and Oxford City.
However, they ended the calendar year with a defeat that sees them drop to just one place and two points ahead of the drop zone, having played a game more than 21st place Tonbridge Angels.
A strike right on the brink of half-time from Dennon Lewis was enough to separate the two teams and send the Saints home empty handed, despite their best efforts at Grosvenor Vale.
St Albans have made themselves difficult to break down in recent weeks and they did the same at Wealdstone with the home side’s attackers finding it difficult to force a way through.
Jack Jebb looked to have set up their first chance of the match when he flicked a ball into the path of Michee Efete, only for Dean Snedker to thwart the chance with a brave dive at the full-back’s feet.
Adam Coombes was next to try his luck for the Stones with a shot across Snedker’s goal from a tight angle, but his effort glanced wide of the mark after a neat pass from Lewis in the build up.
At the other end, the Saints were struggling just as much to create anything, as teasing deliveries from both the left and right failed to find anyone in the centre to turn the ball into the net.
After a frustrating opening to the game, Wealdstone started to work with greater creativity to try and find a breakthrough and it looked to be paying off as they grew increasingly close.
A cross from Lewis on the left picked out Danny Green in the centre, but his effort cannoned back off the crossbar, with Snedker well beaten.
There was little Snedker could do about the opening goal either, which came in the second minute of first-half stoppage time.
An intricately weaved through ball from Jebb allowed Lewis to stray beyond the Saints’ back line before delivering a precision finish into the far corner of the net to send the Stones in at the break the happier of the two teams.
Chances were an even rarer commodity in the second period, as both teams defended stoically.
Jacob Mendy had the first real sight of goal when he found room to manoeuvre on the edge of the 18-yard-box, only for Snedker to deny him with his feet.
Harry Isted’s first and only real save came late on in the contest when he kept out Oliver Sprague from a tight angle in the box, after his defenders threw themselves in front of shots from Joe Iaciofano and Solomon Nwabuokei in good positions.
After the defeat, St Albans manager Ian Allinson said his side could have got something from the game, but were beaten by a lapse in concentration.
“It was a poor goal we gave away, it was one real lapse in concentration,” he said.
“There was only a minute put on before half time and we’d weathered that and it’s just about people doing their jobs properly and defending correctly and we didn’t do that and we got undone.
“Maybe our final pass or our final decision wasn’t as sharp as what theirs was for their goal and that was probably the difference between the two sides.
“We could have quite easily taken a point away from today.”
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