St Albans City 0, Aveley 1

A FIRST-half header from Jesse Nwabueze secured three points at Clarence Park that ensured an Isthmian Premier play-off place for Aveley on Saturday (11 April).

A further point from Millers' two remaining fixtures, home to Carshalton on Saturday (18 April) and away to Wingate & Finchley on the last regular Saturday (25 April) would secure a home semi-final, with four points required to secure home advantage in the final if they qualify.

Aveley gave debut to goalkeeper Charlie Turner, with Jonathan North unavailable for the fixture, and he made some fine saves to ensure a clean sheet.

There was a quiet start to this game, with both teams not having any chances in the opening ten minutes. On the 13th minute, Nwabueze picked up a loose pass on the halfway line and stormed past Jamal Fyfield and bore down on the box. Liam Nash was to the left of him, but the confidence of recent form saw him take on the effort, only to be denied by a smart save by Sam Donkin.

The hosts did have their chances, with the first coming from a free-kick 20 yards out. Alex Dyer took aim and curled his free-kick onto the roof of the net.

Turner was called into action as he denied Jasper Mather from close range. The rebound landed to Kieran Petrie, who looked destined to score, but Turner made the point-blank save, with Petrie then scooping his follow-up over the crossbar.

The game looked set to be level at half-time but Matty Johnson nutmegged Dyer before drinking a ball into the back post to Nwabueze, who nodded home from close range to break the deadlock.

The hosts stepped the pressure up in the second half with Jasper Mather getting his head on the end of a cross but under pressure from Ryan Henshaw he headed well wide.

Mather was involved in another half chance but this time it was Tobi Tinubu who pressured the forward and blocked well to deny a shot at goal.

Millers did have the chances to kill the game off. Toby Aromolaran sprinted through on goal but a great tackle from Sam Smart denied him from getting his shot off on goal. Ollie Peters was able to get in behind but under pressure from Fyfield he couldn't find enough power to get it past Donkin who made the save at an angle.

St Albans threw the kitchen sink at Aveley in stoppage time with multiple corners and crosses into the box, but Aveley defended unbelievably well as they held on.