Match Report

Leverstock Green were unable to follow up Saturday’s win as visitors Biggleswade Town took away the three points on Tuesday night, although two late goals made the scoreline somewhat flattering for the visitors.

Biggleswade started the game strongly, with Harry Way being forced into an impressive double save in the 3rd minute. A goalline block from Steve Brown kept the scores level during a goalmouth scramble in the 15th minute. A minute later Leverstock could have opened the scoring. Marcus Warren found Freddie Newing on the overlap, and Newing’s cross found its way through to Mitchell Weiss at the far post, but his shot was straight at the keeper.

Leverstock seemed to have weathered the early storm, but the visitors then took the lead in the 32nd minute. A shot from the edge of the box was tipped onto the bar by Way, but as the rebound came down, Liam Andrews was quickest to the ball and headed home. Leverstock went close again two minutes later when Ryan Carruthers crossed from the right touchline and Jeffrey Sekyere slid in at the near post to meet it, but his effort was blocked wide by a defender.

As was the case in the first game between the sides, once Biggleswade got in front, they used all sorts of time-wasting tactics in an effort to kill the game at every opportunity. Leverstock made a strong start to the second half, with a shot from Lewis Rolfe bringing out a great save from the keeper in the 57th minute. Leverstock had a good spell of pressure at this point, but it was ended by one of numerous points during the half where the flow of the game was stopped by Biggleswade players going down demanding treatment, requiring the physio to come on.

In the 70th minute Weiss set up a good chance for Carruthers, but he shot over the bar from the edge of the box. Leverstock’s chances were further impacted in the 75th minute when Rolfe was shown a straight red card for a challenge that looked worthy of no more than a yellow card. There was another near miss in the 80th minute when a cross from Weiss went across the face of goal and just eluded Joe McCarthy.

Biggleswade had rarely looked like scoring during the second half, and Leverstock were still in the game as seven minutes of stoppage time were indicated, but in the second minute of stoppages, there was a goal out of the blue as Barsa Mirtahmasebi struck a shot from 20 yards that flew over Way to make it 2-0. Further into stoppage time the visitors were awarded a penalty. Way made a great save to turn the spot kick wide, however Leverstock then conceded a soft third goal as the ball went in at the near post direct from the resulting corner.

Leverstock Green (0) 0
1. Harry Way, 2. Callum Neal, 3. Freddie Newing (18. Jack Allen 88 mins), 4. Dan Pett, 5. Steve Brown, 6. Ryan Carruthers, 7. Iker Noguera Leon (12. Joe McCarthy 66 mins),8. Lewis Rolfe, 9. Jeffrey Sekyere, 10. Marcus Warren (15. Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica 66 mins), 11. Mitchell Weiss. Subs not used: 14. Aldo Petagine, 20. Scott McGleish.
Biggleswade Town (1) 3 (Andrews 32, Barsa Mirtahmasebi 90+2, Babaie-Gumbs 90+5)
1. Jack Berman, 5. Barsa Mirtahmasebi, 7. Daniel Newton, 8. Alfie Powell, 9. Cyrus Babaie-Gumbs, 11. Ebenezer Kufuor, 12. Adam Martin, 15. Joshua Steele, 16. Emmanuel Dahie (10. Basim Mirtahmasebi 74 mins), 19. Harrison Rookard (14. Niall Jones 86 mins), 20. Liam Andrews (17. Damani Hunter 90 mins). Sub not used: 13. George Kyle.