Match Report

It was a tough afternoon for Leverstock Green against high-flying Royston Town on Saturday as they fell to a heavy defeat, with most of the damage being done during the first half.

Leverstock had two new loan signings in their squad today, with goalkeeper Finlay Murray joining on a work experience loan from Watford, and striker Arlo Coubrough joining on a youth loan from Sheffield United.

Murray was brought into action to pull off a good save from a shot in the 3rd minute. However, in the 11th minute Leverstock shot themselves in the foot with a botched short corner routine that allowed Royston to break away quickly, and Harvey Beckett put Joe Iaciofano through to slot past Murray and put Royston into a 1-0 lead.

Leverstock could have equalised four minutes later when Joe McCarthy pulled the ball back from the bye-line to find Coubrough, but his shot was kept out by the leg of visiting keeper Stanley Nairne. Royston added their second goal in the 34th minute when a far post corner was headed back across goal by Taylor Parr and Iaciofano had a simple job of heading home from close range. A combination of Murray and George Mitchell-Gears kept out a third Royston goal in the 41st minute, however the third goal came in the last minute of the half. Murray did well to turn a shot from Cemal Ramadan onto the bar, but the rebound was headed home by Beckett.

The second half saw a much improved performance from Leverstock. They pulled a goal back in the 74th minute from the penalty spot, with Romari Forde netting the spot kick after McCarthy had been pushed over in the box.

A second Leverstock goal would have made things interesting, and they had some near misses. McCarthy was just wide with a chip in the 86th minute, and two minutes later a header from Mitchell-Gears brought a great save from Nairne to tip it over the bar. Lucas Hammer brought a save out of Nairne at the near post, and was just wide with a volley in stoppage time. However, in the last seconds of stoppage time Revin Domi broke away to score a fourth goal for Royston with their first shot of the second half.

Results elsewhere meant that Leverstock have dropped back into the bottom four, although it is very tight with six teams being covered by two points at the moment.

Leverstock Green (0) 1 (Forde 74 pen)
1. Finlay Murray, 2. Callum Neal, 3. Vlad Karuchok, 4. Dan Pett, 5. George Mitchell-Gears, 6. Ademide Baruwa, 7. Romari Forde (15. Lucas Hammer 84 mins), 8. Nat Connolly (12. Dan Casey 90 mins), 18. Joe McCarthy, 10. Marcus Warren (17. Aldo Petagine 79 mins), 11. Arlo Coubrough (14. Ashton Corder 57 mins). Sub not used: 16. Iker Noguera Leon.
Royston Town (3) 4 (Iaciofano 11, 34, Beckett 45, Domi 90+6)
13. Stanley Nairne, 4. Harvey Beckett (14. Josh Dawodu 81 mins), 6. Archie Locke, 8. Taylor Parr, 9. Cemal Ramadan (24. Josh Coldicott-Stevens 72 mins), 10. Joe Iaciofano (21. Alfie Warman 61 mins), 11. Kian Harness, 15. Jack Dickerson (12. Konstantin Ivanov 90+3 mins), 18. Kieron Cathline, 20. Andronicos Georgiou (19. Revin Domi 61 mins), 22. Dylan Williams.