Match Report

Ill-discipline and defensive errors contributed to Leverstock Green suffering a 4-2 defeat at Crawley Green in a game played behind closed doors at The Brache on Tuesday night. Despite playing with ten men for two-thirds of the game and with nine men for a ten-minute period, they were never out of the game until the very end.

There was a debut for Thomas Littleboy, who signed a couple of weeks ago but had been unable to play until now due to a five-game suspension picked up at his previous side Amersham Town.

The home side took the lead in the 8th minute through one of the first mistakes of the game, as Kian Wilkes gave the ball away outside his own box, and Phil Draycott hit an angled drive into the bottom corner of the net. However, Wilkes made up for his error in the 15th minute as he received a pass from Steve Hawes and hit a tremendous shot from distance which also found the bottom corner of the net to level the scores at 1-1.

Matt Fallon denied Draycott a second goal in the 21st minute as he dived to his right to turn away a free kick. Leverstock’s task was made harder in the 36th minute when they were reduced to ten men. The referee adjudged that Littleboy had deliberately stamped on an opponent and showed a straight red card to bring his debut to an early end.

Four minutes before half time the Leverstock ranks were reduced even further. Fallon appeared to be fouled by an opponent and when Brima Johnson protested to the referee he was sin-binned for dissent.

The nine men made it to half time with the scores still level, and through the opening six minutes of the second half, during which Fallon made an excellent close-range save from Jonathan Barnett. However, within seconds of Johnson rejoining the game Danny Watson shot home a second goal for Crawley Green to put them back into the lead.

There was a chance of an equaliser on 61 minutes when Oran Swales crossed into the box for Frank Jowle, but Jowle couldn’t get enough on his shot to trouble the keeper. Two minutes later a foul by Jamie Ovington on Sam Holmes gave the home side a penalty, which Watson tucked away to put Crawley Green into a 3-1 lead.

Leverstock still weren’t out of the game. In the 67th minute a determined run from Luke Peerless was brought to an end by a foul just outside the box. The result was a free kick in a similar position to that which Peerless scored from on Saturday, and once again he found the net, this time without a deflection as he lifted the ball over the wall into the top corner to pull the score back to 3-2.

A double substitution on 74 minutes saw Leverstock switch to 3-5-1, and for the remainder of the game it was end-to-end. Fallon produced another great save to deny Mark Bunker on 82 minutes, while three minutes later a curling shot from Swales was saved. However, two minutes into stoppage time another error at the back saw Fallon throw the ball out to Swales with an opponent in close proximity who won the ball and crossed to the far post where Draycott headed home the goal that sealed the win for Crawley Green.

Crawley Green (1) 4 (Draycott 8, 90+2, Watson 53, 64 pen)
Team: 1. George Rose, 2. Glenn Cooksley, 3. Mark Bunker, 4. Adam Marsh, 5. Chad King, 6. Chris Crook, 7. Tyler Ingham, 8. Aaron Morgan (14. Jonathan Barnett 30 mins), 9. Sam Holmes (15. Yevsilin Eugene 83 mins), 10. Danny Watson (17. Brendan Cowell 70 mins), 11. Phil Draycott. Subs not used: 12. Tyler Goode, 16. James Younger.

Leverstock Green (1) 2 (Wilkes 15, Peerless 67)
Team: 1. Matt Fallon, 2. Brima Johnson, 3. Connor Church (17. Guiseppe Delgaudio 74 mins), 4. Dan Weeks, 5. Jamie Ovington, 6. Steve Hawes, 7. Kian Wilkes (14. James Hall 74 mins), 8. Thomas Littleboy, 9. Luke Peerless, 10. Oran Swales, 11. Frank Jowle (16. Cass Grant 64 mins). Subs not used: 12. Mickey Shuttlewood, 15. Will Bisney.