Match Report

Leverstock Green reached the Third Round of the FA Vase for the first time in eight years with a well-deserved 4-1 win over Enfield in Tuesday night’s Second Round tie played at Harlow Town’s stadium. It was an excellent display from the Green side on the 4G pitch, playing some lovely expansive football.

Leverstock made a bright start to the match, with Alex Witham hitting a shot from distance which was gathered by keeper Steven French in the 12th minute, and Marcus Campbell hitting a similar effort a minute later which was saved. In the 18th minute Witham played a ball across goal with the outside of his boot which just eluded the incoming Mark Smith. Enfield’s first near-miss of the match came in the 23rd minute when Ayo Odukoya hit a shot just over the bar, but it was still somewhat against the run of play when the home side took the lead two minutes later. Jay Stavri went down in the box under challenge from two Leverstock defenders, and the referee awarded a penalty which was tucked away by Odukoya – the first goal that Leverstock had conceded in this Vase run.

The Green side kept going, and went close to a leveller in the 26th minute when Witham hit a shot from distance just wide. They only had to wait another three minutes for the equaliser, although it was a somewhat fortuitous one as Brima Johnson sent over a cross which Enfield defender Jacob Dixon took a swing at, and only succeeded in slicing the ball past French into his own net.

Leverstock had their tails up now, and went close in the 31st minute when a free kick from Sam Nair found Alex Condon with a header which went just over the bar. Two minutes later Nair found the head of Condon again, this time from a corner, and this time Condon’s header found the bottom corner of the net to put Leverstock into a 2-1 lead.

Five minutes later it was almost an action replay as Nair swung over another corner, and this time it was Ethan Flanagan who came in with the powerful header into the same corner of the net to make it 3-1 to the Green.

Two minutes before the break Reynaldo Carbon spun away from Enfield captain Matt Thoma, and would have gone clean through but for being pulled down by Thoma, who was somewhat fortunate to only get a yellow card. However, a minute later Thoma brought down Carbon again just outside the box, and got a second yellow card along with a red as Enfield were reduced to ten men. Nair took the resulting free kick and put it just over the bar.

Leverstock went into the second half with a two-goal and one-man advantage, and never looked like losing their grip on the match. Enfield had a chance from a free kick outside the box in the 50th minute, but Jayden Hocking-Rising’s shot was blocked by the wall, and a follow-up shot was saved by Rob Partington. A minute later Witham hit another fine long-range shot which was tipped over the bar by French. The resulting corner caused further problems in the Enfield defence, but the ball stayed out. Another Nair corner on 58 minutes found the head of Condon again, but his header glanced wide. That was the last action of an excellent game for Nair, who was substituted after picking up a booking.

There were many more chances as Leverstock continued to pass the ball around confidently, but the score remained at 3-1. Five minutes from time the game flared up into a mass brawl, the end result of which was two more red cards, firstly for Odukoya, reducing Enfield to nine men, and then for Luke Nugent reducing Leverstock to ten men. Partington produced a double save in the last minute to ensure that Enfield didn’t reduce the arrears, then finally in the third minute of stoppage time Jordon Goode’s pass put Chris Blunden through to take the ball round French and slot home into the empty net for the long-overdue fourth goal.

The reward for the win is a tough tie away at Eastern Counties League leaders Histon. The tie is due to be played on the weekend of Dec 1st, but is unlikely to be on the Saturday as tenants Cambridge City have a home game.