Match Report

Leverstock Green followed up their 4-1 win last Saturday with another 4-1 win as they toppled the start of play league leaders Crawley Green in a remarkable game at the Brache which saw both goalkeepers red carded.

Fergus Moore was without top scorer Chris Blunden, who was unavailable, and George Mitchell-Gears, serving a one-match suspension for five bookings. However, there was a first appearance of the season for last season’s top scorer Rawn Seale, who has been unavailable to play so far this season.

Leverstock made a bright start to the game, with Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica putting the ball across the face of the Crawley goal in the 5th minute. Two minutes later came the first major incident of the game. Bobby Armstrong played a ball forward for Seale to chase, and home keeper Loris Marcimain came racing out of his area and handled the ball outside the box. The referee adjudged that it was a deliberate handball to prevent a goal, and showed a red card to the keeper. Crawley defender Marius Patru took over in goal for the resulting free kick, and could only watch as Ibrahim Nagheeb drilled a low shot into the corner of the net to open the scoring in the 10th minute.

There was an immediate change of keeper for Crawley, as forward Brandon Carney replaced Patru in goal, and Carney went on to give an impressive display in goal, firstly denying Seale a goal when he was clean through in the 27th minute. In the 30th minute a loss of concentration at the back gifted a chance to the home side, but Josh Adeyieka shot into the side netting.

Leverstock were looking the more likely to score, though, with Stefanoaica having a good run into the box in the 32nd minute but slipping over at the vital moment. Seconds later a shot from Ethan Mooney brought a good save out of Carney as he tipped it onto the post. Seale netted the rebound but was flagged offside. The second goal eventually arrived in first half stoppage time with a neat move started by Armstrong and Rio Beach, and ending with Stefanoaica laying off to Dan Pett, who curled a superb shot out of Carney’s reach into the corner of the net.

Leverstock continued to look impressive in the second half. On 51 minutes a shot from Nagheeb took a deflection and flew inches over the angle of post and bar. Two minutes later a pass from Ryan Carruthers put Seale through again, but Carney produced another good save to turn Seale’s shot away. Crawley’s task was made harder when Patru was sent to the sin-bin in the 58th minute for arguing about an incident at a corner. Leverstock took advantage of their opponents being temporarily down to nine men, adding a third goal in the 65th minute. Mooney crossed from the right edge of the penalty area and Stefanoaica fired home a shot for his third goal in two games.

It was still 3-0 as the game went into the 90th minute. A mistake at the back left Adeyieka through on goal, and as he reached the penalty area his run was ended by a foul challenge from Leverstock keeper Austin Byfield. The referee showed consistency with his earlier decision and again showed the red card to Byfield for preventing a goalscoring opportunity. Scott McGleish, who had only come off the bench two minutes earlier, took over in goal and got a hand to Garry Jones’ penalty, but could not keep it out as Crawley pulled back a consolation goal.

However, there was still another story to come. Callum Moore, 16 year old son of manager Fergus, had come off the bench in the 82nd minute for his senior debut. In the 5th minute of stoppage time, a shot from Elgeniy Daalberg took a wicked deflection and looped up over Carney. The ball came back off the crossbar and Moore was there to nod home the rebound and notch his first senior goal on his debut, restoring Leverstock’s three-goal advantage and completing an impressive 4-1 win. The three points moves Leverstock up to seventh place in the table.

Crawley Green (0) 1 (Jones 90+1 pen)
1. Loris Marcimain, 2. Marius Patru (15. Parys Smith 75 mins), 3. Nicoli Trif, 4. Ernest Njoroge, 5. Garry Jones, 6. Mike Evans (17. Melvin Onu 75 mins), 7. Joe Grossi (14. Tejon Brown 65 mins), 8. Brandy Makuendi (16. Theo Boakye 75 mins), 9. Joe Hankins, 10. Brandon Carney, 11. Josh Adeyieka. Sub not used: 12. Adam Hughes.
Leverstock Green (2) 4 (Nagheeb 10, Pett 45+1, Stefanoaica 65, Moore 90+5)
1. Austin Byfield, 2. Brad Robinson (16. Adrian Pitfield 37 mins), 3. Rio Beach, 18. Bobby Armstrong, 5. Alvin Kyemereh (20. Scott McGleish 88 mins), 6. Ryan Carruthers, 7. Ethan Mooney, 8. Dan Pett (14. Callum Moore 82 mins), 9. Rawn Seale, 10. Ibrahim Nagheeb (15. Ayomide Oke 77 mins), 11. Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica (12. Elgeniy Daalberg 68 mins).