Match Report

Leverstock Green’s hopes of appearing in the Challenge Trophy final were dashed by London Colney, who won Tuesday night’s semi-final at Cotlandswick with two second half goals.

While title-chasing London Colney chose to rest some of the players who appeared in the league match on Saturday, Leverstock had three enforced changes due to players being cup-tied, but had six players back in the squad who weren’t available on Saturday.

The first chance fell to the home side in the 12th minute through a mistake by George Biggadike, who tried to chest the ball down, but only succeeded in allowing David Parkinson through on goal. Jack Watts scrambled back and put in a great saving tackle to prevent the early goal. Some more hesitant defending on 19 minutes allowed Parkinson in again, but this time he put the ball across goal and wide. Mark Berg pulled off two good saves to deny Jack Woods on 22 minutes and Greg Shaw on 37 minutes. At the other end, the nearest Leverstock came to a chance was a 34th minute free kick from Curtis Donaldson, which just eluded the head of Shane Wood, while Jonathan Lacey hit a shot wide in the last minute of the half.

Leverstock’s best chance of the match came five minutes into the second half. David Lawrence tried to find space for a shot on the edge of the box, but instead managed to slip the ball through to Lewis Bowers, who was through on goal but saw Colney keeper Tom Gowans pull off a good one-handed save to keep his shot out.

Three minutes later Leverstock gave the ball away on the halfway line, and were instantly punished as a couple of passes put Woods through to shoot past Berg from the edge of the box for the opening goal.

A cross from Donaldson on 61 minutes could have resulted in the equaliser, but both Ross Adams and Bowers tried to get on the end of it and between them it was headed wide. A couple of minutes later Donaldson and Adams combined to set up a half-chance for Brima Johnson, but he couldn’t get the ball on target.

The second London Colney goal came on 72 minutes in similar fashion to the first, with Leverstock giving the ball away and Woods being quickly put through to shoot home again. This time they did not look like surrendering their two-goal lead, with only a shot from Bowers in the 83rd minute bringing a save out of Gowans. Leverstock simply didn’t create enough on the night to unduly trouble the hosts, who will now face Division Two side Thame Rangers in the final.

On Saturday Leverstock return to league action with a visit to Welwyn Garden City.