Match Report

Leverstock Green’s FA Cup run ended at the first hurdle after they were beaten 3-1 at Ardley United in Tuesday night’s Extra Preliminary Round replay. Leverstock were the better side for large parts of the game, but a missed penalty proved crucial, and a late breakaway goal by the home side sealed the match.

The Green side were without four first-choice players, with the suspended Frankie Jowle added to the injury list of Lewis Rodrigoe, Luke Peerless and Jamie Fulton.

Ardley took an early lead from the penalty spot, after the referee adjudged that Kane O’Neil had brought down an opponent in the box. Louis Joyce put away the spot kick to make it 1-0 in the 5th minute.

Leverstock were playing up the considerable slope in the first half and took a while to get into the game, but they levelled the scores in the 24th minute. O’Neil made up for his earlier misdemeanour with some great footwork in the box before crossing for Stephen Dodd, whose first effort was blocked, but when the ball came back to him he blasted it past keeper Jake Pritchard for the equaliser.

This was the start of a good spell for the Green side, with Ollie Cox hitting a shot from distance which Pritchard saved down by his post a minute later. Leverstock won a couple of free kicks, with Dodd getting on the end of both of them, but heading over the bar from the first one and shooting over from the second one. At the other end in the 33rd minute O’Neil was penalised again, this time for a foul just outside the box, but Deon Gallacher hit the free kick over the bar. Leverstock went close again four minutes later when Pritchard hit a clearance straight to John Smith, who tried to chip the keeper from distance, but it went just over the angle of post and bar. Five minutes before half time Leverstock had a great chance to take the lead. A shot from Adiel Mannion struck the arm of an Ardley defender, and under the new rules the referee had no alternative but to award the penalty. Mannion took the kick himself, but Pritchard pulled off a great save, diving low to his right to turn it round the post.

Instead of being in front, Leverstock then found themselves behind in first half stoppage time. It was a scrappy goal, with Drew Boyd forcing the ball over the line in a goalmouth scramble, and although it looked like the referee had overruled a linesman’s flag, it later emerged that in fact the linesman had flagged that the ball had crossed the line.

Eight minutes into the second half Leverstock looked to have a good shout for another penalty. A free kick from Cox found Dodd, whose header appeared to be blocked on the line by a hand, but the referee gave nothing. On 61 minutes there was another chance when Luis Brooker charged down a clearance from Pritchard, but the keeper did well to recover and turn Brooker’s shot round the post. This was one of those spells where Leverstock looked the better side, but they couldn’t convert their pressure to chances. On 78 minutes Dodd got on the end of a cross from Ollie Lawford, but didn’t make proper connection with his header and it was saved. Three minutes later another Lawford cross found Dan Weeks, but he couldn’t get enough of a contact on his header to get it on target. In the 85th minute a shot from Mannion was parried by Pritchard, but no-one was following up.

Three minutes from time Ardley went close to clinching the game on the break, but the shot thumped against the post. In the 89th minute they were reduced to ten men when Mason Courtney was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Smith. However, Leverstock didn’t have enough time to make their numerical advantage tell, and in the first minute of stoppage time Ardley broke away again, with Callum Harvey taking the ball around Carl Tasker before slotting home the goal that sealed a 3-1 win for his side.