Match Report

Leverstock Green added another win and three points to their total with another impressive comeback win in Saturday’s SSML Premier Division match at Dunstable Town. For the second week running the Green came from behind to win with a late header, having been trailing 2-1 with ten minutes left. It was an exciting game to watch on a chilly afternoon at Creasey Park.

With keeper Matt Fallon still injured, 16 year old Adi Connolly took his place between the sticks and had an eventful game. The home side had the better of the early exchanges, with Connolly confidently claiming a corner in the 4th minute, and gathering a shot from Daniel Trif in the 10th minute.

Leverstock should have taken the lead in the 21st minute from their first chance. Conor Blake did well before pulling the ball back to Adiel Mannion, whose cross found John Smith in space on the edge of the six yard box. Smith brought the ball down, but his shot was straight at keeper Dan Gould, who palmed the ball away. However, seconds later they were threatening again, and a cross from Frankie Jowle found Conor Blake, who drilled home a shot into the bottom corner of the net to score his first goal for the club.

Three minutes later another cross from Jowle found Blake again, but this time his shot went wide. In the 27th minute at the other end, Khy Smith-Reid went on a mazy run into the box, but Connolly came off his line to block the shot. The game continued to be end-to-end. On 31 minutes Louie Griffiths was clean through and tried to slip a shot between Gould’s legs, but it was deflected wide off Gould’s right heel. Four minutes later Connolly came off his line again to dive at the feet of Oliver Reagan. There was another Leverstock chance on 37 minutes as Griffiths pulled the ball back to Smith, who shot wide. In the 40th minute Connolly again came sprinting off his line, but this time it didn’t work out so well as his challenge on Ben Collins was late, and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Connolly got a yellow card for the foul, and couldn’t stop the penalty as Chris Stapleton levelled the scores at 1-1.

Leverstock went close again in the third minute of the second half. Griffiths floated in what looked like a cross from the left side of the penalty area, but it was heading for the top corner of the net until Gould stretched out an arm to turn it wide. In the 54th minute there was a nasty collision as Connolly and Dunstable forward Luke Little both went for the same ball. Both players received lengthly treatment, with Little having to leave the game and Connolly continuing despite suffering a leg injury.

On 62 minutes a Dunstable corner sparked a goalmouth scramble in which the Green defence seemed to have got the ball away after a couple of blocks, but then Jack Stevens put in a tackle in which he appeared to win the ball, but the referee considered it dangerous and awarded Dunstable another penalty. Stapleton again got the better of Connolly from the spot to put his side 2-1 up.

A couple of minutes later Leverstock thought they had a case for a penalty of their own as Dan Weeks was pushed over while trying to get on the end of a Jowle free kick, but the referee waved away the protests. In the 79th minute Dunstable looked set to clinch the game as Joe Hankins went on a run at the defence. Hankins opened up the space for a clear shot, but Connolly got down to pull off a brilliant save and showed strong hands to hold onto the ball.

That turned out to be the match-winning save as Leverstock proceeded to turn the game around in a three-minute spell. On 81 minutes Jowle floated in a free kick which the Dunstable defence could not clear. Smith had the chance to score, but he miscued his shot, luckily into the path of Stevens, who bundled the ball home to equalise at 2-2.

Better was to follow in the 84th minute as Jowle delivered a corner, and substitute Luke Peerless came barrelling in to meet it with a thumping header to put Leverstock into a 3-2 lead, a triumphant return from injury for the midfielder.

After the earlier collision there was a lot of stoppage time for Leverstock to hold out through, but they successfully held onto their lead to claim their eighth league win of the season and move up to 10th in the table. It was a well-deserved result for a spirited display which also contained a lot of good football, and the bravery of Connolly’s performance should not be underestimated.