16 Mar 2026
Chichester City 1 St Albans City 1 (Isthmian League Premier Division)
Report by Jess Unwin, photos by Jim Standen
Their late-season unbeaten run may now stretch to seven matches, but Saturday’s draw away at Chichester – a creditable result in different circumstances – means St Albans are 13 points off the promotion play-off positions with just 21 points left to play for.
Victories the same day for three of the four teams trailing champions-in-waiting Folkestone underlined the harsh truth that Saints’ destiny is very probably out of their hands.
Not that it would have made much difference to their diminishing promotion chances, but Saints could so easily have left West Sussex with all three points after they had two second-half goals disallowed.
The second and more controversial ruled-out goal came when the Chichester keeper could only parry Lewis Page’s inswinging corner into the path of Jasper Mather. He stabbed the ball home from inside the six-yard box, but Saints celebrations were cut short by the referee’s decision to give a free kick to Chichester.
St Albans manager Gary McCann told the club’s YouTube channel: “We’ve seen a video replay of that disallowed goal two or three times, and we feel it’s his own player who backs into the keeper and impedes him – nothing to do with Zane Banton or any of our players.
“I think the Chichester keeper has to do better there but the referee blows his whistle for a foul and, for me, that’s a decision against us that I feel really aggrieved about.”
McCann was quick to add that that one decision wasn’t the reason Saints drew this game and admitted the result “could have gone either way”.
He was again pleased with his side’s improving defensive resilience: “This was the type of game that we’d have lost six to eight weeks ago.” However, it was a lapse in concentration at the back that allowed Chichester to take the lead on 13 minutes on Saturday.
A long throw-in from the left was not cut out by St Albans keeper Sam Donkin and Emmett Ross Dunn got in front of Ryley Scott to score fairly easily from close range. Just moments later, Donkin made an incredible reflex save to stop Saints going further behind when he got a hand to a shot that took a deflection off Jake Grante.
St Albans got back on level terms 20 minutes later with an outstanding three-pass move that could turn out to be a contender for goal of the season.
It started with Kieran Petrie, deep in his own half, and a measured ball upfield that found Mather close to the halfway line. Mather’s turn and perfect defence-splitting pass then made Sam Smart the favourite in a race with three Chichester defenders towards the home side’s goal.
The diminutive Saints winger still had plenty to do but drilled his shot, from just outside the penalty area, into the bottom corner of the net.
After the break, Chichester should have gone ahead through Joseph Clarke, but he blazed over the bar, while substitute Alex Wall was flagged offside for the first of the two late disallowed St Albans goals.
With this tale of two cities finishing in a draw, there are now just seven league games left in Saints’ 2025-26 season, which means their recent improved form has
almost certainly arrived just a little too late.
