Match Report

A goal early in the second half was enough for Leverstock Green to continue their good run with a 1-0 win over Holmer Green in Tuesday night’s SSML Premier Division game.

Both sides will feel they should have made more of their chances in this game, and Holmer Green in particular had numerous near-misses in the first half. On 19 minutes Mark Berg kept out a shot from Tom Hunt, and three minutes later produced a double save to deny both Matt Wooster and Hunt from close range. A minute later Hunt slid in to connect with another good chance but scooped the ball over the bar.

Leverstock’s first near-miss came in the 30th minute when good work from Danilson Vicente sent Tremayne Charles away down the left wing. Charles squared the ball into the penalty area but Jonathan Lacey couldn’t get his effort on target. Three minutes later Holmer missed another great chance when a mistake from Kendall Allen left Greg Deer through on goal, but he pulled his shot wide. On 35 minutes Vicente set up Charles with a chance but he hit the ball across goal and wide.

Leverstock’s play in the first half had been disjointed, but they were much-improved in the second half. Five minutes after the restart a move involving Zak Howells and Lewis Davis ended with Vicente laying off on the edge of the box to Charles, who drilled a low shot in the corner of the net to give Leverstock a 1-0 lead.

Five minutes later it could have been 2-0 when a defender failed to clear Curtis Donaldson’s ball into the box, leaving Davis with a clear shot, but keeper Sam Butcher did well to turn his shot round the post. On 63 minutes Leverstock had a free kick in a similar position to where Donaldson had scored from on Saturday. Donaldson curled another superb effort over the wall but this time it hit the underside of the bar and rebounded away to safety.

The chances continued to come for Leverstock, with Charles and Vicente combining to set up Lacey on 68 minutes, but his shot was straight at Butcher. Charles hit a shot just over the angle of post and bar two minutes later, and Lacey had a shot from distance turned round the post by Butcher. Holmer’s best chance of an equaliser came in the 75th minute when Deer got up unchallenged to meet a free kick but headed straight at Berg. They had other half-chances but were unable to hit the target from any of them. Reynaldo Carbon came closest to adding a second goal for Leverstock in the closing stages when his dipping shot in the 84th minute was just over the bar.

The win takes Leverstock up two places to 9th in the table with a healthy points tally of 43, while Holmer were left looking nervously over their shoulders at the bottom two. Next up for Leverstock is an away game at Wembley on Saturday.