Leverstock Green registered a big win in their penultimate league game of the season against already-relegated London Colney. On a difficult pitch the Green side produced an excellent display of finishing in the second half as four different players found their way onto the scoresheet.

The scoring was opened in the 5th minute. Rio Beach sent over a cross from the left touchline which found George Mitchell-Gears, who took a touch and turned before rifling home a shot. There was a chance for a second three minutes later when a flick from Chris Blunden gave Mitchell-Gears a run at goal, but his shot went across goal and wide.

Blunden was unlucky with a shot in the 37th minute which keeper Norbert Adu did well to tip over the bar, and four minutes later Mitchell-Gears hit a shot from distance which went just over the angle. In the closing minutes of the half the home side went close when Daniel Parkinson just failed to connect with a cross at the far post, and in stoppage time at the other end Elgeniy Daalberg hit a shot into the side netting.

Leverstock were playing up the slope in the second half but remained in control of the game. In the 54th minute a corner from Dan Pett was not cleared, and in the ensuing scramble skipper Dan Weeks pounced on the loose ball to shoot home his first goal of the season.

Ethan Mooney and Ibrahim Nagheeb came off the bench, and Nagheeb took only four minutes to make an impact as his ball forward put Mitchell-Gears clear of the defence to send a neat lob over Adu for a 3-0 lead in the 70th minute.

Further substitutions saw Raheem Khan, Luke Durnin and Raheem Khan enter the fray. In the 81st minute Leverstock broke quickly from a London Colney corner. Daalberg won a challenge on the halfway line and threaded a pass through to Khan. His shot was parried away by Adu, but Nagheeb followed up to net the rebound to make it 4-0.

In the 88th minute Leverstock were caught on the break themselves as Samuel Ezenwaka was put clean through and finished well past Austin Byfield to pull a goal back. However, a minute later the four-goal cushion was restored as Calvin pounced on a loose ball in the box to shoot home a fifth goal from close range.

The three points moves Leverstock back up to 7th place, and they are all but assured of finishing no lower than 8th. They complete their season on Saturday at home to already-crowned champions Leighton Town.

London Colney (0) 1 (Ezenwaka 88)
1. Norbert Kesse Adu, 2. Tyrell Benjamin, 3. Camile Tani, 4. Saeed Yusuf, 5. Freddie Wilkinson, 19. Bobby Webb, 7. Samuel Ezenwaka, 8. Keane Fullwood, 9. Daniel Parkinson (14. Terry Offeh 64 mins), 10. Tommy Pidgeon (15. Junior Adeoye 76 mins), 11. Oscar Evans. Subs not used: 12. Caleb Steele, 16. Dale Small, 17. Sam Webb.
Leverstock Green (1) 5 (Mitchell-Gears 5, 70, Weeks 54, Nagheeb 81, Calvin 89)
1. Austin Byfield, 2. Danny May, 3. Rio Beach, 4. Dan Weeks, 18. Bobby Armstrong, 6. Ryan Carruthers (19. Luke Durnin 77 mins), 7. Elgeniy Daalberg, 8. Dan Pett (15. Ibrahim Nagheeb 66 mins), 9. Chris Blunden (20. Jamie Calvin 79 mins), 10. George Mitchell-Gears (12. Raheem Khan 75 mins), 11. Ayomide Oke (14. Ethan Mooney 55 mins).

After a run of three defeats in league and cup, Leverstock Green steadied the ship with a point from a goalless draw at London Colney. It had required penalties to separate the two sides when they met in the FA Vase a week ago, and again the sides were closely-matched in a game of few chances. Goalkeeper Alfie Bonfield was Leverstock’s hero with a first half penalty save. Will Bisney came in for his first game of the season, replacing the injured Rio Beach.

After a quiet opening to the game there were a couple of scares for Leverstock when Finbar King hit a shot just over the bar on 13 minutes, and a Colney free kick was headed across the face of the Green goal two minutes later. Leverstock then had a couple of chances of their own. On 21 minutes a flick-on from Ollie Lawford gave Rawn Seale a run at goal, but his shot was comfortably gathered. Two minutes later giant home keeper Thierry-Allan Belleau came off his line to punch away a cross from Adrian Pitfield. The ball only went as far as Ryan Carruthers, who tried to lob into the empty net but it dropped just over the bar.

In the 25th minute London Colney had a golden opportunity to open the scoring when Isiah Noel-Williams brought down a Colney forward just inside the box and the referee pointed straight to the penalty spot. However, Alfie Bonfield dived to his right to turn away Jordan Gill’s spot kick and keep the score at 0-0.

Leverstock had another good chance in the 39th minute when a pass from Ethan Mooney put Lawford through. As Belleau came racing out of his area Lawford took the ball past him, but had been forced wide and his his pull-back into the box did not find a Green forward.

The second half saw generally more pressure from the Leverstock side, and a succession of corners, but little in the way of clear-cut chances created by either side. The best chance for Leverstock came in the 73rd minute when a precise pass from Lawford put Seale through on goal, but he was denied at the death by a great saving tackle from Andrew Simmons.

On 82 minutes Belleau couldn’t hold onto a shot from Seale, but no-one was following in quickly enough to get to the loose ball before the keeper gathered at the second attempt. Two minutes from time a free kick from Pitfield found Paplamin Jawara at the far post but he couldn’t direct his header on target. In the end it was a game that neither side really deserved to lose, or win, and Leverstock were prevented from scoring for the first time in a league match this season.

London Colney 0
Team:1. Thierry-Allan Belleau, 2. Andrew Simmons, 3. Jordan Gill, 4. Jack Mace, 5. Zack Holding, 6. Jack Wilson, 7. Herbie Townsend (14. Issouf Coulibaly 80 mins), 8. Isaac Olaleye (15. Wilberforce Ocran 68 mins), 9. Finbar King, 10. Pijus Montvydas, 11. Kwadino Bugyei-Kyei. Subs not used: 12. Jake Clarke, 16. James Lawrance, 17. Antony Stockman.

Leverstock Green 0
Team: 1. Alfie Bonfield, 2. Adrian Pitfield, 3. Will Bisney, 4. Dan Weeks (17. Scott McGleish 85 mins), 5. Paul Marks, 6. Ryan Carruthers, 7. Ethan Mooney, 8. Dan Pett, 9. Rawn Seale, 10. Ollie Lawford (12. Lewis Collins 77 mins), 11. Isiah Noel-Williams (15. Paplamin Jawara 64 mins). Subs not used: 14. Elgeniy Daalberg, 16. Brima Johnson.