19 Jan 2026
St Albans City 3 Whitehawk FC 5 (Isthmian League Premier Division)
From Jess Unwin at Clarence Park, photos by Jim Standen
After a trio of successive home wins, St Albans City slipped back into bad habits with a succession of lapses in defensive concentration that were brutally punished by Whitehawk FC.
Not for the first time this season at Clarence Park, Saints started brightly in a game but then conceded goals far too easily, leaving themselves with the proverbial mountain to climb to get back into the match.
Trailing by three goals after just 32 minutes on Saturday, Saints nevertheless gave the watching crowd of 945 some hope for the team’s second half chances when Jasper Mather, whose eye for goal has impressed in recent games, bundled the ball home from close range just before the interval.
City boss Gary McCann looked to give his team more attacking power, bringing on Sam Smart and Kieran Petrie and withdrawing Jack James and Michael Bostwick. The reshuffle seemed to work with Saints beginning the second half with renewed gusto. Within minutes, Mather’s weaving run took him deep into the Hawks’ penalty box and his squared pass was met decisively by fellow striker Leo Sery to make it 2-3.
As Saints enjoyed their best spell of the whole game, Sery was once again on hand to apply the finishing touch on 60 minutes, levelling the scores at 3-3 after a classy interchange of passes between skipper Zane Banton and Kieran Petrie had carved open the Whitehawk defence.
Sery, whose brace of goals on Saturday maintained his position as one the division’s highest scorers, was once again outstanding, working hard for his team as well as getting on the scoresheet. He has undoubtedly been one of the successes of City’s season thus far and will surely have attracted the attention of other clubs.
The watching City fans must have expected Sery would get the chance to add to his goal haul and claim a hat-trick as it seemed the impetus of the home side’s comeback would carry them on to victory in the final quarter of this contest.
But it was not to be. Saints could not convert further opportunities – another of their unwanted bad habits this season – and then were hit by a sucker punch when City made a mess of defending a long throw. Grant Hall gleefully took advantage to put Whitehawk 4-3 in front after 80 minutes.
With Saints committing everything to try to level the scores again and salvage a point, the visitors then sealed their victory and three points with a goal from Ikechi Eze after 93 minutes.
After the game, McCann told the club’s social media: “Defensively, we’ve been excellent in recent weeks and looked really solid and safe but today we gave ourselves an absolute mountain to climb.”
He added: “That old habit of finding ways to lose games has resurfaced and we’ve got beaten tonight and that’s really disappointing.”
Describing the game as a “rollercoaster of emotions”, McCann spoke about lapses in concentration around the Whitehawk three goals conceded in the first half hour, which were netted by Charlie Harris, Destiny Ojo and Andrew Briggs.
He admitted: “You’ve got to credit the opposition…they’re not a possession side, they look to hit you on the break and they’ve done that with aplomb.”
McCann was unhappy about the referee missing what he said was a handball while the score was 4-3. “It’s an error…but he’s not the reason we’ve been beaten today, it’s because
we’ve not defended anywhere near well enough.”
With the news that midfielder Troy Perez-Duah has left the club by mutual consent, City supporters will be wondering if Saints might bring in new faces. McCann said he and Harry Wheeler (the club’s director of football) would be “looking to see where we can improve”.
He continued: “If we need something we will act – that’s something we’re fully engaged with. I still think there are a couple of areas on the pitch that we can improve, but we won’t sign for the sake of it.”
