Match Report

An excellent second half comeback saw Leverstock Green claim a well-deserved point from their visit to league leaders London Colney on Saturday. Two superb strikes from top scorers Jonathan Lacey and Curtis Donaldson erased a 2-0 half time deficit.

The result was all the more impressive given the depleted squad available to Scott Dash and his management team today, with several key players unavailable on top of the long injury list. Leverstock had the game’s first near miss in the 4th minute as David Lawrence floated in a free kick which Jack Watts met with a header that was just wide. There was another chance in the 12th minute as Danilson Vicente went on a run with the ball from the halfway line but was robbed inside the penalty area when there were two good passing opportunities available.

London Colney had only had a couple of off-target shots before taking the lead in the 30th minute. Watts had cleared a dangerous ball into the box towards the corner flag, where Brima Johnson tried to win a goal kick off David Parkinson, but Parkinson won the ball despite a strong shout for handball and put it back into the box where Spencer Clarke-Mardel shot home.

The second goal in the 36th minute was unfortunate for Watts, who lost his footing midway inside his own half having received a pass from George Biggadike, allowing Jon Clements to nip in and head straight towards goal, shooting past Liam Jahn from the edge of the box having left the chasing defenders in his wake.

London Colney took their 2-0 lead into the break, and almost increased it in the 52nd minute with a shot from Jack Woods which went inches wide. There was still little to choose between the sides, who were both struggling to play football in the windy conditions. Leverstock just needed a goal to get themselves back into the game, and it arrived in the 64th minute via another moment of individual brilliance from Jonathan Lacey. There seemed little on as the ball dropped for Lacey in a crowded penalty area, but he connected with a volley straight towards the top corner of the net which went in off the angle of post and bar.

Another moment of individual brilliance resulted in the deserved equaliser in the 78th minute. A Leverstock free kick had been headed away, but Curtis Donaldson picked up the ball 30 yards out, headed straight for the penalty area and hit the sweetest of strikes on the run across keeper Tom Cowans and into the far corner of the net. It was the 100th goal in all competitions for the Leverstock side this season.

The home side pressed strongly over the closing minutes for a winner, but the back four of Watts, Biggadike, Johnson and youngster Luke Nugent, making only his second start for the first team, remained as strong to the end as they had throughout the game.

This was the fourth meeting between the two sides this season, and they will meet for a fifth time on Tuesday night in the semi-finals of the Challenge Trophy, again at Cotlandswick, kick-off 7.45 pm.