Match Report

Leverstock Green continued their run of good form with an impressive 3-0 win over London Tigers in Saturday’s SSML Premier Division fixture at Pancake Lane. The margin of victory could have been greater with a number of good chances being missed, but three points and a clean sheet marked a very good return for the afternoon.

It was almost a dream start for Leverstock as they went close to opening the scoring with just a minute on the clock. A short kick from the Tigers keeper was returned back towards goal into the path of Matt Bateman, who was clean through, but hit his shot just over the bar. There was another near miss in the 8th minute as Alex Marsh dispossessed defender Naim Bashir near the right touchline and spotted that the keeper was off his line, but Marsh’s lob landed just wide of the goal. It had been mostly one-way traffic for the opening ten minutes, but in the 12th minute the visitors gave notice of their threat when an overhead pass from Joel Ramos gave Sebastien Philogene a run at goal. Philogene got past Liam McCrohan, but skipper Shane Wood came across to sweep up the danger and clear the ball.

Leverstock got their deserved opening goal in the 15th minute. A fine pass from McCrohan put Ross Adams in behind the defence, and Adams produced a great finish from a narrow angle to beat the keeper and find the back of the net.

The Green side were playing some excellent passing football with man-of-the-match Alex McCarthy at the heart of it. In the 19th minute when Scott Bonner played the ball out of defence to Bateman, who ran on before squaring for David Lawrence, whose shot was saved by the keeper. There was another good move a minute later when Chris Gosling’s pass put Bateman away down the right, and Gosling continued his run to get on the end of Bateman’s eventual cross, but his shot went wide.

Leverstock were worth at least a two-goal lead and they added the second in the 23rd minute, a quick counter-attack from a corner that was unnecessarily given away. Brima Johnson’s pass from the edge of his own box found Bateman on the halfway line. A quick turn from Bateman gave him a half-yard start over the Tigers defence, and Bateman continued to hold off the chasing defenders all the way before shooting home confidently from the edge of the box.

Both Adams and Bateman hit shots over the bar as Leverstock continued to create chances over the rest of the half. The Tigers manager clearly wasn’t impressed with his side’s performance, and took the unusual step of making a double substitution five minutes before half time, with a further change being made at half time.

The changes didn’t make a huge difference to the Tigers side, as Leverstock’s lead looked in little danger during the second half. The only save that Green keeper Reuben Rabstein had to make was from a shot by Nicolae Breazu on 62 minutes.There should have been a third Leverstock goal four minutes later when Bateman squared to set up a great chance for Lawrence, but he put it just over the bar from ten yards out.

The third Green goal eventually arrived ten minutes from time. Bateman played a great pass to put Adams through on goal, but the keeper came off his line to tackle Adams on the edge of the box. The loose ball was gobbled up by Jonathan Lacey, who passed the ball into the empty net for the goal that made absolutely sure of the points.

The result moves Leverstock up to 12th in the table. Since gaining no points from their opening four games, the Green side has won 5, drawn 2 and lost 1 of the next eight games and will look to continue their form next Saturday when they travel to St Margaretsbury.