LATE LEVELLER DENIES US ALL THREE POINTS

THE WHITE Tigers suffered last-gasp agony at a sun-kissed St. Albans City as the home side snatched a point with a late leveller.
It was the home side who looked to take the game by the scruff of the neck early on without seriously testing our back-line.
Our first real chance came when Connor Riley-Lowe whipped in a dangerous ball which Tyler Harvey got his head to only for the ‘keeper to save.
We were starting to get our game together and as Riley-Lowe went down inside the area, our appeals for a penalty were waved away.
Despite looking the most likely side at this stage, our hosts proved to be a threat on the break with Harvey Rivers saving well before Aaron Bentley got in a timely intervention in the next raid for the home side.
There was a great chance for Harvey on the quarter-hour mark but he rattled the woodwork before Niall Thompson fired over from distance.
The game was continuing to ebb-and-flow as Ben Rowthorn did well in the middle of the park before feeding Dan Rooney who in turned linked up with Harvey who was just off target.
With ten minutes to go until the break, a melee ended with Harvey booked along with the home skipper as an edge started to creep into the game.
Rivers did well with another save, whilst Nick Grimes thwarted the home side as they looked to edge in front.
Right on the stroke of half-time, Dan Rooney got into a good position only to fire straight at the ‘keeper as we went in at the break with the scoreline locked at 0-0.
There was a perfect start to the second half when within two minutes of the restart, Clark was adjudged to have handled inside the area and Harvey stepped up to fire home.
The lead was to last a matter of minutes as a long throw-in from Bender was met by the head of Clark and it evaded the grasp of Rivers.
Three minutes later, though, we were back in front when a ball to the far post was swept home by Riley-Lowe as the home side appealed in vain for offside.
As we looked to extend our lead, a corner was headed just over by Harvey before we had to face a series of corners from the home side which required us to defend resolutely.
Both River Allen and Louis Rooney went close before Thompson saw yellow for time-wasting and in the same incident Jordan Copp was given a red card, even though he was on the substitutes’ bench!
The home side upped the pressure in the closing stages but we managed to keep them at bay by a combination of solid and committed defending and good fortune.
We had a late chance as Riley-Lowe was denied by a smart save but our hearts were broken deep into stoppage time when Diedhiou was on hand to turn the ball home after a pull-back from the by-line to level the scores.

WHITE TIGERS: Rivers, Thompson, Riley-Lowe, Richards, Grimes, Bentley, Rowthorn, D.Rooney (Harding 84), Allen, Harvey, Herve (L.Rooney 28). Subs not used: Harding, Battle, Copp, Ziboth.
BOOKING(S): Harvey, Thompson
RED CARD: Copp
GOAL(S): Harvey, Riley-Lowe
Attendance: 724.

PHOTO: Josh Miller.