Saints keep their eye on the ball after Heather shock

Improving Saints followed up their weekend win over Midland Combination leaders Heather St John’s with another comfortable victory on Tuesday night when beating Castle Vale JKS 2-0 at the Vale Stadium.

Manager Luke Fogarty was delighted with another win, Saints third in the last four league outings, saying: “I didn’t expect the same level of intensity of play as we showed against Heather and we had to grind out a result.

“We did the job well enough in the end and two wins and two clean sheets is a pleasing return on our efforts.”

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Missing leading scorer Andy Millan, who is expected to sign for Dosthill Colts, Fogarty introduced former Alveston player Dan Humphriss at right-back, moving Jack Taylor out to the wing, with Ross Jackson leading the attack.

Taylor twice went close, testing home keeper John Green early on and seeing his 38th-minute free-kick bounce back off the crossbar, before man-of-the-match Jackson set Saints on the road to victory, running on to a long ball from John Blunsom and lobbing Green from 25 yards.

Vale came close to an equaliser just before half-time when Jim Stott misjudged a shot that came back off the bar, but there was little danger to Saints after the break as they dominated the second half.

A poor clearance by Green went straight to Jackson, but he failed to get any real power behind his shot. Substitute Richard Robinson also should have done better with his first touch shortly after coming on but, after several more near-misses, Saints wrapped up the points through Tunde Ajibade, who fired home a free-kick from just outside the box for his fourth goal in three matches.

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On Saturday, a goal in each half by Ajibade sealed a 2-0 win for Saints as they inflicted only the second league defeat of the season on runaway leaders Heather.

Heather came close to scoring in the 35th minute when an Ashley Spencer corner hit the top of the bar, but it was Saints who took the lead four minutes before the interval.

A move which started in their own half was finished by Ajibade from close range following an assist from Robinson.

The visitors almost levelled when Jamie Hammersey split the home defence with a clever pass, but Ryan Slinn put the ball against the far post and out for a goal kick.

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Ajibade wrapped up the points early in the second half, flicking the ball over Gutteridge from close range.

To compound the Heather keeper’s misery, he suffered an injury attempting the save which ended his participation in the game.

Saints travel to Pelsall Villa tomorrow, before facing Stockingford AAA in the semi-final of the Coventry Telegraph Cup at Allard Way, Coventry on Wednesday night.