09 Aug 2025
Five victories in a row and staying unbeaten at home were the encouraging positives for St Albans City’s new-look team in its programme of pre-season friendlies.
Goals came from multiple sources as Ian Culverhouse and Paul Bastock experimented with different combinations of players – and there were four clean sheets.
However, after the final friendly, against Real Bedford, ended in a 4-2 defeat, Culverhouse said: “We’ve had a really good pre-season with some really good passages of play, but this just settles everyone down.
“It’s going to be a really hard season, a long slog, and it just puts everyone back in their place a little bit … we’ve got to work really hard to get our goals. There are going to be setbacks in the season and it’s how you come back from them.”
- Maidstone United vs St Albans City 2-0
- St Albans City vs Arsenal U21s 5-2 (St Albans scorers – Alex Wall, Ryley Scott, Jasper Mather, George Sippetts, Troy Perez-Duah)
- St Albans City vs Luton Town U21s 1-0 (St Albans scorer – Kieran Gauthier)
- Beaconsfield Town v St Albans 0-7 (St Albans scorers – Jasper Mather, Leo Sery 3, Kieran Gauthier, James Sweet, Nick Ralph)
- St Albans City vs Wealdstone 1-0 (St Albans scorer – Tom Jennings)
- St Albans City vs Ebbsfleet United 1-0 (St Albans scorer – Ryley Scott)
- Real Bedford vs St Albans City 4-2 (St Albans scorers – George Sippetts, Michael Bostwick. Jack James sent off)
