A disastrous first half saw Leverstock Green fall to a heavy defeat in Tuesday night’s trip to Leighton Town in the SSML Premier Division. Despite a much improved second half, a three-goal half time deficit proved too much to pull back as Leighton scored their first league win of the season at the tenth attempt and in-form striker Danny Webb netted four goals.

The game was just over a minute old when Alfie Osborne’s ball down the right wing put Webb in behind the Green defence and he ran on to hit a shot across Matt Fallon into the corner of the net to open the scoring.

There was a similar chance for James Towell in the 9th minute when Webb played him through, but this time Fallon saved. In the 17th minute a pass from Ashton Campbell almost put Sonny Newbury-Barr through, but Fallon raced off his line and just got to the ball first to clear. However, seconds later a pass from Newbury-Barr put Webb in again, and he shrugged off a challenge from Dan Weeks to hit a shot in off the underside of the bar for a second Leighton goal.

Leverstock were seeing plenty of the ball but doing very little with it, while Leighton were looking dangerous on every attack. In the 28th minute a tackle from Jack Stevens brought down Webb inside the box, and the striker stepped up to take the penalty himself and complete a hat-trick within 30 minutes.

Four minutes later Leverstock had a chance to get back into the game when the referee awarded a penalty for Michael Donkor’s challenge on Cass Grant. Stevens netted the spot kick to pull the score back to 3-1. However, the three-goal cushion was restored within two minutes as a pass from Ashton Campbell put Webb in again to take the ball round Fallon and score his fourth of the night as Leighton took a 4-1 lead into the break.

Leverstock made a double substitution in the 58th minute, bringing on Louie Griffiths and Jamie Fulton, and within a minute of the change they had a glimmer of hope as Ollie Cox produced a goal out of nothing, hitting a thunderous shot from 25 yards that flew past Brad Kirkwood in the Leighton goal to reduce the deficit to 4-2.

The Green side had a number of chances to reduce the deficit even further. On 62 minutes Grant shot over from the edge of the box, and on 70 minutes Weeks got on the end of a Cox corner with a header that went inches wide of the goal. Fulton lashed a shot into the side netting on 81 minutes and Steve Hawes shot over the angle in the 86th minute. At the other end some great saves from Fallon were keeping Leverstock in touch as they strived for the goal that could have put the game back in the melting pot. In the end, though, they couldn’t find the net again, and deep into stoppage time Ben Pattie lashed home a shot for Leighton’s fifth goal, again restoring their three-goal lead.

Leverstock Green successfully retained their SSML Premier Division status by securing the point they needed with a 0-0 draw at Leighton Town on the final day of the season. As it turned out, other results would have been enough to keep them up anyway, but to have secured safety off their own bat was an important boost at the end of a very difficult season for the Green.

It was the team’s best performance for some time and a fully deserved point, and they had plenty of chances to have won the game. In the 8th minute Reece Cameron did well to get to the bye-line and pull the ball back into the six yard box, but Louis Griffiths hit his shot just wide. At the other end five minutes later former Green player Jordan Fredericks blasted a shot wide from a good chance.

There was another opening for Leverstock in the 21st minute when Griffiths went on a run into the box before laying off for Harry Barrett, who was through on goal but pulled his shot wide. On 30 minutes Cameron hit a fine crossfield ball to find Griffiths on the edge of the box, but defender Alfie Osborne did well to close down quickly and block Griffiths’ shot.

The second half saw some equally promising forward play from the Green side. On 56 minutes there was some good work on the left from Lejhai Henriques to set up Barrett for a cross into the box. Cameron got on the end of it with a shot on the turn that went just wide. A minute later Henriques set up another chance for Cameron but this time his shot was saved.

On 65 minutes a Leverstock corner was headed out to the edge of the box, where Mark Smith met it with a sweet volley that went inches over the bar. Three minutes later Luke Preedy got on the end of a huge kick from Ryan Schmid but couldn’t keep his shot under the bar. With 15 minutes left Cameron had another shot which was deflected wide by a defender, and from the resulting corner Cameron lined up an excellent long-range effort which went just over the angle of post and bar.

There were some tense moments over the last five minutes as Leighton had a shot blocked on the line in a goalmouth scramble, and an effort on the rebound went wide. But by then Stotfold had fallen behind in their game, which meant that Leverstock could not have fallen into the bottom two. The final whistle confirmed that the Green were safe,and will go on to play in a 17th consecutive season in the SSML Premier Division.

After Tuesday night’s 5-5 draw at Berkhamsted, Leverstock Green were involved in another goal-filled encounter with a promotion-chasing side, but despite fighting back from an early two-goal deficit to level the scores, the Green side ended up well beaten after a tough second half.

There were just three minutes on the clock when Leighton took the lead, George Boland pouncing on a shooting chance just inside the box to fire home a shot into the top corner of the net. In the 7th minute Leverstock missed a couple of chances to clear the ball out of their own box, and this time it was Dom Marsala who took advantage, turning and shooting low into the corner of the net.

Leverstock had barely got into the game at this point, but in the 14th minute they finally got a foothold. Chris Marsh delivered a cross from the right touchline, and Jonathan Lacey came in to net a rare headed goal to reduce the arrears to 2-1.

It could have been 2-2 in the 23rd minute when Casey Linsell’s corner was headed away, but only as far as Lacey, who met it with the cleanest of first-time volleys, but Leighton keeper Tom Wyant pulled off a brilliant save to turn it over the bar. Leighton had the chance of a third goal in the 32nd minute when Lewis McBride was clean through, but Mackenzie Taylor did well to stand his ground and save with his legs. Within seconds at the other end a shot from Chris Gosling was blocked by a defender, but only into the path of Lacey, who slotted past Wyant to level the scores at 2-2 and finally overhaul the long-departed Matt Bateman to lead the Leverstock scoring charts with his 19th of the season.

However, parity only lasted for four minutes as the Green defence was undone by a pass slipped through to Alex O’Brien, who shot past Taylor to put Leighton back in front at 3-2.

The game looked to be delicately poised at half-time, with another thriller anticipated, but within two minutes of the restart Leighton passed their way through the Green defence again for Marsala to score his second and open up a two-goal lead again. That effectively killed the game off as Leverstock were unable to muster any serious attempts at the Leighton goal in the second half. Marsala completed his hat-trick in the 73rd minute with another shot into the top corner of the net, and substitute Bruno Brito made it 6-2 with a shot in the 79th minute, as Leighton comfortably completed their third win over Leverstock this season.

Leverstock’s current run of only one win from their last six games has seen Hadley close down their lead in 6th place to just one point, so they will need to start picking up some points from their remaining six games, the first of which is away to Crawley Green on Wednesday night.