Match Report

Leverstock Green got their competitive season off to a very disappointing start as they were well beaten by London Colney in the first round of the Herts Charity Shield. Paul Hunt’s side had several key players missing, but that can’t excuse a poor display against a very well-organised Colney side who were in control for most of the match.

It was the visitors who had all of the early chances. In the 8th minute Jack Woods played a one-two with Spencer Clarke-Mardel before crossing to the far post where Archie McClelland headed wide. Two minutes later Shaw hooked a shot just over the angle after a corner had not been cleared, and in the 24th minute Shaw put a looping header just over the bar from a corner. Colney finally got their long-overdue goal in the 38th minute when McClelland was put through to slot home a low shot past Joel Canning in the Green goal.

However, Leverstock should have been level within two minutes. Curtis Donaldson chested down a through ball and raced clear of the defence, but his attempted chip over visiting keeper Tom Cowans was not high enough as Cowans reached up and grabbed the ball. In first half stoppage time Ben Butler had a shot blocked inside the six-yard box as Leverstock ended the half looking still very much in the game.

However, six minutes into the second half Colney doubled their lead as again a corner wasn’t cleared, and McClelland lashed home a shot from a yard out for the second goal. The game got further out of Leverstock’s reach in the 62nd minute as Russell Gallagher went on a solo run before shooting home his side’s third goal.

Things went from bad to worse for the Green side. On 65 minutes Dan Holliman came off the bench to replace Dan Hartley, but within a minute Holliman was being shown the red card for pulling down a Colney forward just outside the box, and had not even touched the ball in his brief spell on the pitch.

McClelland completed his hat-trick in the 69th minute following a mistake from Canning, and substitute Jon Clements made it 5-0 with 16 minutes still to play against a dispirited ten-man Leverstock side.

However, there were no further goals conceded, and five minutes from time there was a consolation goal for the Green side as Karl Thomas headed home a Donaldson corner to leave a final score of 5-1.

The two sides meet again at Pancake Lane next Saturday in the preliminary round of the FA Cup, and Paul Hunt expects to have his full side available for that game which will hopefully see a much better effort from the Leverstock side.