Match Report

It was a third league win in a row for Leverstock Green as they overcame a strong Harpenden Town side in Saturday’s game at the Lords Builders Merchants Stadium. Suspension, illness and injuries meant that it was a somewhat different looking side to last week’s. Goalkeeper Tautvydas Poniskaitis was drafted in to cover for the suspended Austin Byfield, and defenders George Alfieri and Joshua Yoane were brought in on loan from Hadley to play in defence, where Brad Robinson, Adrian Pitfield and Alvin Kyeremeh were all out injured. Skipper Dan Pett was also absent through illness. All three of the newcomers gave excellent performances.

Both sides were playing some good football in the early stages, but without much end product. Chris Blunden brought a good save out of visiting keeper Alex Desmond in the 11th minute, but had already been flagged offside. George Mitchell-Gears had an effort from the edge of the box in the 20th minute which went just over the bar.

In the 42nd minute a pass from Alfieri put Ethan Mooney through on goal. Mooney squared for Blunden, but his shot was saved and he was flagged offside again. However, in the 44th minute a big header from Ryan Carruthers gave Blunden a run at goal. Blunden couldn’t get his shot away, but held onto the ball until support arrived, and squared into the six-yard box where Mitchell-Gears was there to stab home the opening goal.

Having scored just before half time, Leverstock added their second just after half time. A foul on Mitchell-Gears gave Leverstock a free kick in a dangerous position 25 yards out, and just as he did last week, Ibrahim Nagheeb produced a superb strike into the corner of the net. It was also a third goal in successive games for Nagheeb.

However, just over a minute later Harpenden were back in the game. A cross from the left was palmed away by Poniskaitis, but the ball fell for Josh Setchell, who drove home a shot to pull the score back to 2-1.

For the remainder of the game it was end-to-end stuff. The nearest that Leverstock came to extending their lead was in the 76th minute when Bobby Armstrong’s header from a corner was well saved by Desmond. Harpenden had a couple of good chances from headers in the 77th and 80th minutes but both efforts were off-target. A cross from Rio Beach in the 86th minute set up a shooting chance for Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica, but his well-hit effort was blocked. A minute later Harpenden had the ball flashing across the face of the Leverstock goal but with no-one on the end of it.

Leverstock used every tactic during stoppage time to run more seconds off the clock, and unlike recent games where they have surrendered a single-goal lead late on, this time they closed the game out for a crucial three points which takes them up to 5th in the Premier Division table.

Leverstock Green (1) 2 (Mitchell-Gears 44, Nagheeb 48)
1. Tautvydas Poniskaitis, 2. George Alfieri, 3. Rio Beach, 18. Bobby Armstrong, 5. Joshua Yoane, 6. Ryan Carruthers, 7. Radu-Mihair Stefanoaica, 8. Ibrahim Nagheeb, 9. Chris Blunden (12. Elgeniy Daalberg 90 mins), 10. George Mitchell-Gears, 11. Ethan Mooney. Subs not used: 14. Freddie Newing, 15. Ayomide Oke, 16. Sean Walsh, 20. Scott McGleish.
Harpenden Town (0) 1 (Setchell 49)
1. Alex Desmond, 2. Andrew Simmons, 3. Jake Collins (17. Isaiah Hilaire 79 mins), 4. Ryan Plowright, 5. Josh Rodrigues, 6. Mickey Shuttlewood, 7. Josh Setchell, 8. Lewis Croucher (16. Joe Devaney 62 mins), 9. Jake Anthony, 10. Nathan McGreevy (12. Billy Owen 75 mins), 11. James Younger (15. Michael Gabblah 62 mins). Sub not used: 14. Bobby London.