Match Report

It was always going to be a tough night for a very young Leverstock Green side against an in-form Baldock Town side, and so it proved, although the side battled well throughout and didn’t let their heads drop. The performance of the night went to keeper Ryan Schmid, who produced a series of great saves to prevent Baldock adding more to their total and had little chance with the ones that went past him.

Baldock had a flurry of chances in the 13th minute, with Sam James shooting over the bar from a good position, Kieran Barnes having a shot turned round the post by Schmid, and Kim Forsythe shooting over the bar from the resulting corner. Two minutes later Liam Brooks got the better of debutant defender Luke Abrahams to go clean through, but Schmid did well to save with his legs.

Having soaked up the early pressure, it was Leverstock who went closest to scoring so far in the 21st minute when Alex Yearwood hit a superb shot from distance which had the keeper beaten but hit the post. However, in the 30th minute Baldock finally took the lead as a ball over the top put Barnes clean through, and he finished emphatically past Schmid to open the scoring. Baldock had further chances late in the half, but James hit another shot over the bar from close range and had an effort cleared off the line in the last minute of the half.

The second half opened with Baldock pushing forward again, but Schmid saved again with his legs on 48 minutes to keep out a shot from Brooks. Three minutes later Leverstock had another effort at goal as Luke Nugent went on a run before passing to William Akinola, whose shot was saved.

Baldock’s second goal on 56 minutes had an element of controversy about it as the linesman clearly flagged for a foul in the build-up, but the referee did not consult him, and Barnes’ finish from close range stood. The third goal came in the 76th minute through Forsythe, who hit a great shot from the edge of the box, and two minutes later via a somewhat harsh penalty decision Barnes completed his hat-trick from the spot.

The Leverstock side continued to battle until the end, and were unlucky not to net a consolation goal two minutes from time when a great cross from Paplamin Jawara found Wesley Iroegbu in front of goal, but his shot went just over the bar.