Match Report

Leverstock Green’s FA Vase run came to an end at the Third Round stage on Sunday afternoon as they were well beaten at Eastern Counties League leaders Histon.

Injury problems have plagued the Leverstock squad all season, and with keeper Rob Partington having suffered broken bones in his hand last week against Leighton Town, inexperienced keeper Tristan Thomas was brought in, and struggled against a Histon side who used the long throw tactic to good effect. As early as the third minute a long throw from Max York caused problems, with Ollie Emsden hitting a shot just wide.

Having soaked up pressure from the home side for the opening minutes, Leverstock had a great chance to take the lead in the 9th minute. A superb pass from Mark Smith put Marcus Campbell clean through on goal, but Campbell’s shot was saved by keeper Sam Roach. Within a minute Histon had the ball in the Leverstock penalty area, and when a shot from Dan Brown came back off the inside of the post, Ed Rolph was on hand to net the rebound and put Histon into a 1-0 lead.

The home side continued to turn the screw with a series of corners and long throws, which the Green defence were just about dealing with until the 26th minute. Another long throw resulted in a goalmouth scramble from which Leverstock could not clear the ball, and Rob Ruddy blasted home a shot to put Histon 2-0 up.

Leverstock had a promising break in the 36th minute when a pass from Campbell allowed Salim Sahnoun to get ahead of the Histon defence down the right wing. Sahnoun crossed the ball to the far post, but Alex Witham’s attempt to get in a shot was blocked. The last five minutes of the half proved the Green side’s undoing. In the 41st minute York hurled in another long throw towards the near post. Thomas tried to claim the ball but couldn’t hang onto it, and Brown had a simple tap-in for a third Histon goal. Brown had another simple finish in the last minute of the half when yet another long throw into the six-yard box wasn’t dealt with, leaving Leverstock going into the break 4-0 down.

Histon continued to pile on the pressure in the second half, and although Thomas produced three good saves early in the half, a further mistake in the 71st minute gifted Pat Bexfield a fifth goal for Histon. Over the closing minutes Leverstock finally started to get some attacking play going, helped in no small part by the introduction of Sam Nair. In the 75th minute Reynaldo Carbon got on the end of a free kick from Nair with a flicked header that landed on the top of the net. Mark Smith had a couple of good long-range efforts which went close, and in the 90th minute Leverstock got a consolation goal as Smith got on the end of a corner from Nair with a glancing header home.

Overall though, the Leverstock side didn’t do themselves justice at all on a big stage, and it was a disappointing way to end a Vase run that has seen some tremendous football played to get this far.