Match Report

Leverstock Green got off the mark for the new season as Jonathan Lacey netted a penalty deep into stoppage time to rescue a point in a dramatic finish to Tuesday night’s game at Tring Athletic. A point was the least that the Green side deserved from an evenly-contested match in which both sides had numerous chances.

The first half was a somewhat scrappy affair, not helped by the Tring pitch being in desperate need of some rain. The home side went close in the 7th minute when Elliott Goward put the ball right across the face of the Green goal, but nobody got on the end of it. In the 14th minute a corner from Jonathan Lacey was met with a glancing header from Mark Smith that didn’t quite have enough on it to divert the ball inside the far post. The best effort of the half came in the 33rd minute when Lacey played a through ball to Alex Witham, who hit a ferocious shot but was unlucky to see it come back off the post.

The second half saw both sides raise their game. In the 56th minute Leverstock were almost gifted a goal when Carl Mensah cleared a cross from Witham and only just missed putting it into his own net. The resulting corner found Shane Wood at the far post, but his shot was blocked. Four minutes later a goal kick from Arvydas Kacinkevicius found Lacey down the right wing, running on to deliver a cross which Chris Blunden just failed to connect with. On 68 minutes Lacey headed just wide from a Tom Silford cross.

Sam Nair came off the bench in the 73rd minute, and came close to making the breakthrough within three minutes. A corner was cleared to the edge of the box where Nair met it with the sweetest of hooked volleys, but Tring keeper Marcus Richardson pulled off a brilliant flying save to turn it over the bar.

Tring then had a golden opportunity to take the lead with ten minutes remaining. Luke Dunstan ran with the ball from the halfway line and wasn’t challenged until he got into the box, where Shane Wood dived in with a rash tackle that gave the referee the easiest of penalty decisions. Ashton Campbell stepped up to take the kick, but slammed it against the underside of the bar, and the ball bounced down and away to safety.

However, a minute later Tring had a corner, and despite three efforts being cleared off the line in the resulting goalmouth scramble, eventually it was Campbell who made up for his penalty miss by forcing the ball home at the fourth attempt to put Tring into a 1-0 lead.

With a couple of minutes left, it looked as though Tring might have another penalty as Kacinkevicius clashed with a Tring forward in what looked like a 50-50 challenge just inside the box, but after consulting his assistant, the referee awarded a free kick to Leverstock. The game was then held up for five minutes while Shane Wood received treatment after a challenge in the Tring box. It was five minutes into stoppage time when Leverstock won a corner, and as the ball came over, Richardson clearly threw an elbow into the face of Elliott Dobbs. The referee spotted it and blew for a penalty. By the time the referee had dealt with sending the keeper off, and Tring had selected an outfield player to take his place in goal, it was seven minutes into stoppage time when Lacey finally stepped up to confidently net the penalty and level the scores at 1-1.

There were a further three minutes of stoppage time played in which both sides were trying to win the game rather than hang onto their point, but the game finished with a 1-1 scoreline. After defeat in their opening game it was a relief for Leverstock to get their first point and goal on the board, and they now turn their attention to the Emirates FA Cup, where they travel to the ground of Ashford Town (Middx) to face Southall in the Extra Preliminary Round. This game takes place on Sunday at 3pm, due to Ashford having a home game on the Saturday.