Match Report

A disastrous first half saw Leverstock Green fall to a heavy defeat in Tuesday night’s trip to Leighton Town in the SSML Premier Division. Despite a much improved second half, a three-goal half time deficit proved too much to pull back as Leighton scored their first league win of the season at the tenth attempt and in-form striker Danny Webb netted four goals.

The game was just over a minute old when Alfie Osborne’s ball down the right wing put Webb in behind the Green defence and he ran on to hit a shot across Matt Fallon into the corner of the net to open the scoring.

There was a similar chance for James Towell in the 9th minute when Webb played him through, but this time Fallon saved. In the 17th minute a pass from Ashton Campbell almost put Sonny Newbury-Barr through, but Fallon raced off his line and just got to the ball first to clear. However, seconds later a pass from Newbury-Barr put Webb in again, and he shrugged off a challenge from Dan Weeks to hit a shot in off the underside of the bar for a second Leighton goal.

Leverstock were seeing plenty of the ball but doing very little with it, while Leighton were looking dangerous on every attack. In the 28th minute a tackle from Jack Stevens brought down Webb inside the box, and the striker stepped up to take the penalty himself and complete a hat-trick within 30 minutes.

Four minutes later Leverstock had a chance to get back into the game when the referee awarded a penalty for Michael Donkor’s challenge on Cass Grant. Stevens netted the spot kick to pull the score back to 3-1. However, the three-goal cushion was restored within two minutes as a pass from Ashton Campbell put Webb in again to take the ball round Fallon and score his fourth of the night as Leighton took a 4-1 lead into the break.

Leverstock made a double substitution in the 58th minute, bringing on Louie Griffiths and Jamie Fulton, and within a minute of the change they had a glimmer of hope as Ollie Cox produced a goal out of nothing, hitting a thunderous shot from 25 yards that flew past Brad Kirkwood in the Leighton goal to reduce the deficit to 4-2.

The Green side had a number of chances to reduce the deficit even further. On 62 minutes Grant shot over from the edge of the box, and on 70 minutes Weeks got on the end of a Cox corner with a header that went inches wide of the goal. Fulton lashed a shot into the side netting on 81 minutes and Steve Hawes shot over the angle in the 86th minute. At the other end some great saves from Fallon were keeping Leverstock in touch as they strived for the goal that could have put the game back in the melting pot. In the end, though, they couldn’t find the net again, and deep into stoppage time Ben Pattie lashed home a shot for Leighton’s fifth goal, again restoring their three-goal lead.