Match Report

For the second time in four days Leverstock Green were beaten by a side who went to the top of the league with their three points. The scoreline may suggest that Leverstock were well beaten, but that was certainly not the case. Fergus Moore’s side put in a strong and hard-working performance and were competitive throughout the game. Whatever the merits of the Leverstock performance, the only thing being talked about at the end of the game was the performance of the referee, which had a huge influence on how the game went.

The first twenty minutes of the game were played at a frantic pace with the ball going from end-to-end, although with little goalmouth action. The first near miss came in the 22nd minute when Risborough’s Kieran Schmidt hit the post with a shot. However, two minutes later it was Leverstock that opened the scoring. There seemed little danger as a defender tried to shepherd the ball back to his keeper, but they ended up leaving it to each other, allowing Elgeniy Daalberg to nip in and take the ball and run it into the empty net.

Five minutes later another mistake was almost punished as the keeper kicked the ball out straight to Kian Wilkes, who had an effort at the empty net from near the centre circle, but it went just over. As the game approached the break Leverstock were well worth their lead, but a series of poor decisions from the referee brought the game to a head. An altercation between Ollie Cox and the Risborough keeper resulted in Cox wrongly being sent to the sin-bin, then once Cox had retreated to the bench and further things were said, Cox was shown a red card.

That left the Green side down to ten men for the second half, which started with them still leading 1-0. Wilkes almost doubled the lead in the 54th minute as he intercepted a crossfield pass and ran through to hit a shot just wide. However, two minutes later the scores were level as Marcus Wylie went on a run towards the Green box and hit a low shot through a crowd of players that Alfie Bonfield could not stop.

The game started to boil over again in the 60th minute when the referee awarded Risborough a penalty for handball when the ball had clearly been headed away. Wylie netted the spot kick to put Risborough 2-1 up. The ensuing protests resulted in Leverstock being temporarily reduced to nine men with Dan Weeks sent to the sin-bin.

If the first penalty decision wasn’t bad enough, there was a second penalty awarded to Risborough in the 66th minute for an absurd theatrical fall, but all it needed was for one of their players to shout for the penalty, and it was duly given. However, this time Bonfield produced a great save to keep the score at 2-1.

There was another incident in the 71st minute as a high boot from Risborough’s Aaron Jewel left Paul Marks with a head injury, and Jewel was shown a straight red card. At this stage it was 10 v 8 as Leverstock still had Weeks in the sin-bin and Marks having his head injury bandaged up, but both players returned to the pitch to make it 10 v 10. Dan Pett almost levelled the scores in the 77th minute as he was through on goal but the keeper produced a great save to keep his shot out.

The game had been closely-contested throughout, but two late goals gave the final score a lopsided look. Sean Coles capitalised on a mistake at the back to stab home a third goal in the 87th minute, and as Leverstock continued to chase the game they were caught out again at the back as Gavin James lobbed Bonfield in the 90th minute.

Risborough Rangers (0) 4 (Wylie 56, 60 pen, Coles 87, James 90)
Team: 1. Jack Brooker, 5. Josh Urquhart, 6. Alex Kedzierski, 8. Asher Yearwood, 9. Liam Enver-Marum (18. Gavin James 77 mins), 10. Marcus Wyllie (16. Lawrence Clark 89 mins), 11. Sean Coles, 12. Joshua Fox, 16. Ben Sturges, 17. Aaron Jewel, 19. Kieran Schmidt. Subs not used: 2. Bertie Squires-Adams, 3. Lewis Patrick, 7. Adam Morris.
Leverstock Green (1) 1 (Daalberg 24)
Team: 1. Alfie Bonfield, 2. Brad Robinson (12. Jack Allen 86 mins), 3. Rio Beach, 4. Dan Weeks, 5. Paul Marks, 6. Kian Wilkes, 7. Elgeniy Daalberg, 8. Dan Pett (14. Ryan Carruthers 90+1 mins), 9. Rawn Seale, 10. Ollie Cox, 11. Paplamin Jawara (17. Sean Walsh 90+1 mins). Subs not used: 16. Scott McGleish, 18. Fergus Moore.