Goals from Adam Trotter, Craig Russell and Declan O’Connell sealed victory on Tuesday evening, but what had been a relatively tame affair exploded into life in the final 14 minutes after St Paul’s scored their second.
Wanderers disputed a corner awarded before the goal and to compound matters they then bemoaned that St Paul’s third goal did not cross the goal-line.
Dissent resulted in James Quérée and Kamen Nafkha serving ten-minute sin bins after the second and third goals, respectively.
There was no dispute after St Paul’s’ opening goal as Trotter’s excellent low strike from 12 yards flew inside goalkeeper Robbie Scott’s right-hand upright after 23 minutes.
Shortly afterwards Nafkha, Josh Coutanche and the energetic Arthur Illingworth fired in shots from 25 yards, but Saints ’keeper Euan van der Vliet dealt with them easily.
Wanderers started well, with Coutanche forcing van der Vliet into a parried save, while Jonny Willows had a goal-bound shot blocked, with Nafkha driving the rebound over.
After the break, a busy Jack Boyle was unable to finish off a flowing Saints move, involving Harry Curtis and Russell, with Boyle dropping his shoulder to lose his marker only to be denied by an excellent right-foot block by Scott.
John Borg cleared O’Connell’s back-flicked effort off Wanderers’ goal-line and following a corner – hotly disputed by Wanderers – Russell latched on to a rebound to rifle home St Paul’s’ second goal from eight yards.
Scott then denied substitute Jake Laurendeau with another fine block before then producing a brilliant reflex save to thwart O’Connell, only for the former Wanderers player to stab home the rebound from close range.
‘When you play Wanderers you know that you have to battle hard and earn the right to play your football,’ said St Paul’s coach Andy Sheppard.
‘It was a bigger pitch than Saturday [when the teams met in the Wheway Cup] so that benefitted us by being able to keep the ball well.
‘We had to remain patient, we didn’t want to force it and at half time we said to the players to move the ball a little quicker and we did that well in the second half.
‘We eventually got the goals we deserved and we would have had more but for some good saves by Robbie Scott.
‘They are very well organised and I think it is a good sign for the season because we are going to have a lot of close games and hopefully it will be good battle throughout the year.’
Wanderers manager Rob Cameron said: ‘It’s a difficult job being a referee sometimes, I understand that. But when your other officials are giving certain decisions and you are overruling them, I can understand the frustration of my players … even the St Paul’s players agreed that it wasn’t a corner [for the second goal].
‘We lost our shape based on that and it cost us.
‘And the third goal I struggle to see where he [the referee] can see from 25 yards out whether it has crossed the line or not when his linesman has not given it.
‘If his linesman has given it or is unsure, even if he goes and has a chat with the linesman then I’d fully understand that. But to make a decision straight away like that, when it’s an important game, and then get another player sin-binned when he asked why he had given the goal when he hasn’t seen it.
‘We’ve had some good performances from junior players in two games against them and our squad will be boosted by the return of some senior players who are away at the moment.’
St Paul’s: Euan van der Vliet; Harry Curtis, Stuart André, Jack Cannon; Adam Trotter, Declan O’Connell; Joe Kilshaw (Adam Lester, 86), Jack Boyle, Fraser Barlow (Y, Shay Miley, 84); Kieran Lester (Jake Laurendeau, 35), Craig Russell.
Wanderers: Robbie Scott; Ryan McMonagle (Deon Pallett, 46), Jonny Seller, James Quérée, John Borg; Jonny Willows (Y, James Murray, 69), Chris Mourant; Max Corbett (Jack Greenwood, 84), Kamen Nafkha (Y), Josh Coutanche (Y); Arthur Illingworth.
Referee: David Brunton; Assistant referees: Andy Norman, Harry Walker.
