Match Report

A depleted Leverstock Green put in a great effort to come away with a point from a 2-2 draw in Tuesday night’s visit to Cockfosters in the SSML Premier Division. Several players had dropped out due to illness during the day, and with others unavailable, there was only one sub named in a 12-man squad for this game, some of whom were not even fully fit themselves.

The home side took the lead in the 12th minute from a contentious free kick awarded just outside the box – if anything it looked as though David Lawrence had been fouled rather than committing a foul. Corey Stewart took the free kick, and while his first effort was blocked by the wall, the ball went back to him and his second shot went through a crowd of players and past the unsighted Mackenzie Taylor into the net.

However, their lead only lasted for four minutes as Leverstock fought back. Reece Cameron battled to the byeline and drilled the ball across goal where a deflection off home defender Lawrence Rispoli sent the ball into the net for an own goal.

In the 20th minute Leverstock had another chance when a free kick from Lawrence was not cleared, and the ball dropped for Cameron, but he didn’t quite get hold of his shot and keeper Ben Sales saved. However, four minutes later a threaded pass from Ross Adams was deflected into the path of Cameron, and this time he took the chance to shoot home his first goal for the club and put the Green 2-1 up.

Jay Caines had a run at goal in the 28th minute but his shot was saved by Sales, while a minute later at the other end Taylor had to pull off a good save when a free kick from Piero Bagarone found the head of a forward six yards out.

Two minutes before the break a quickly-taken free kick put Caines through on goal again, but again Sales saved his shot. At the other end a minute later Bradley Robinson hit a long-range effort which was turned round the post by Taylor. However, the resulting corner taken by Bagarone was not cleared, and after a spell of pinball inside the box Ian Salt slipped the ball under Taylor to level for Cockfosters on the stroke of half time.

Leverstock skipper Shane Wood had been struggling with an injury since the closing minutes of the first half, and only lasted eight minutes of the second half before having to be replaced by under-18 player Max Jessop. With no other sub available, this left Chris Gosling effectively playing with one arm for the rest of the game due to a shoulder injury.

Cockfosters felt they were denied a clear penalty early in the second half as the referee waved play on, and they had a chance to take the lead on 57 minutes when Bagarone went clean through, but Taylor did well to dive at his feet and claim the ball. Three minutes later Taylor saved a free kick from Stewart, and although a forward followed in and forced the ball over the line, the referee felt the ball had been kicked out of Taylor’s hands and disallowed the goal.

Leverstock went for more of a long ball game in the second half and started to create some chances. Sales had to save shots from Gosling on 63 minutes and Cameron four minutes later. On 70 minutes Cameron clipped a nice ball towards the far post but Luke Preedy wasn’t quite able to get there ahead of Sales. Four minutes later Cockfosters had their nearest miss of the half. Bagarone was allowed to run through before laying off to Kojo Gyimah, whose shot was blocked by Taylor. The ball went back to Gyimah but his second effort hit the bar. In the last minute a long kick from Taylor was flicked on to put Ross Adams through, but his shot went just over the bar.

In the end it was a fair result between two teams that gave their all on a difficult, strength-sapping surface. There were several notable performances in the Leverstock side, including Gosling playing through injury and Cameron’s bustling up front, but it was Luke Preedy’s non-stop running throughout the game that got him the man-of-the-match nomination.

This coming Saturday Leverstock are at home to Holmer Green.