By Jordan Lim (@JordanLim24)

St Albans Saints has relied on its fast start to overcome a determined Kingston City 3-1 at the Grange Reserve on Monday night.

The NPL 1 round wrapped up in exciting fashion with an early brace to Juso Julardzija setting the tone for the match, before Brodie Paterson and Kemal Curan got one a piece for the Saints and Kingston respectively.

The match was free flowing at both ends, with both sides conjuring up early chances to no avail.  

The strong away support didn’t have to wait long to celebrate as Julardzija struck for the first of two goals.

His 10th-minute header was powered into the near post after a beautifully weighted cross from Sean McIlroy found him unmarked.

The ball found itself at the other end of the park for an extended spell and a pair of fantastic saves from Stjepan Gal kept the scoreline from changing.

The first effort was a pile driver from Andrew Doig that forced a stunning diving save from the Saints custodian.

He then dealt with another long-range strike, tipping the goal-bound shot over his goals.

Having survived the scare, St Albans doubled their lead, and Julardzija doubled his match tally to boot.

Some bulldog-like determination set up the 36th-minute goal as the Saints forward bullied two defenders on the right wing before striking the ball into George Malliaras in the Kingston goal.

The shot deflected back to the striker who dispatched clinically on the second time of asking.

The second half continued in the same fashion as the Saints further extended their lead early in the second half.

Paterson showed his smarts in the box as he followed in a strike from Martin Mason that was pushed towards the edge of the 18-yard box.

The diminutive midfielder then dispatched with vigour, as the keeper lay helpless on the ground.

With the game fast alluding Kingston it was substitute Curan who put the home side back into the contest.

His 59th-minute strike was the result of a fantastic reflex save from man-of-the-match Gal that saw the ball deflect off a defender into the path of Curan who was on hand to bundle the ball home.

While the game promised to go on and become one to remember, it quickly went the way of a Sunday league match, with sloppy play and errors becoming all too common.

While Kingston did hit the post in injury time, via a Peter Lord header, it never truly looked like staging a comeback.

Kingston coach Nick Tolios bemoaned his side’s poor start, admitting it was poor defence that didn’t allow it the foothold it would have liked in the contest.

“I think we gifted the other team a couple of goals to start off with – basic errors which we turned over,” Tolios said.

“When you give a team a two-nil head start it’s always going to be tough and I think even the third goal we were at fault again.”

Winning coach Toby Paterson was understandably happy with the result, but was more pleased with the success of his game plan, which was to attack from the whistle.

He also reserved plenty of praise for his goalkeeper Stjepan Gal, whose inspired performance belied the criticism he copped from some quarters during pre-season.

Match Details

FT: Kingston City 1 (Curan 59') defeated by St Albans Saints 3 (Julardzija 10' 36', Paterson 55') at Grange Reserve [HT: 0-2]

Kingston City: 13. George Malliaras (GK) 2. Peter Lord 3. Stacy Tsalkos 4. James Karvelis (5. Kemal Curan 36’) 7. Velibor Mitrovic 11. George Stavridis 14. Arthur Papadopoulos 15. Gino Defeo (10. John Maclean 59’) 16. Nick Stamatiou 19. Andrew Doig (17. Deniz Sabanovski 64’) 20. Michael Gerace

Unused Sub(s): 1. Sero Sadikovski 8. Anthony Stavridis

Yellow Card(s): Doig 53’ Curan 66’

Red Card(s): Nil

St Albans Saints: 1. Stjepan Gal (GK) 2. Ryan McGuffie 4. Barry Devlin 5. Felix Rosman 6. Martin Mason (14. Christopher Ross 90’) 7. Juso Julardzija (12. Liam Francis 82’) 8. Craig Sweeney 9. Sean McIlroy 11. Ryan Baldacchino (13. Nicholas Cullen 17’) 10. Brodie Paterson 17. Adam Nakic

Unused Sub(s): 15. Konrad Dobraszkiewicz 21. Tonio Baresic-Nikic

Yellow Card(s): Sweeney 28’ Devlin 88’

Red Card(s): Nil