(A) Dunstable Town

The under-18s registered their first win, and their first points of the season in Thursday night’s SCFYL Corinthian Division game at Dunstable Town.

Dan Payne put the Green side into the lead in the 15th minute, and although the home side equalised in the 23rd minute, a goal on the hour from Ben Payne proved to be the winner for Ross Bargent’s side.

Starting XI:
Leo Broom
Calum Charman
Oscar Frost
Ben Humphrey
Dylan Jones
Finn McLean
Ben Payne
Daniel Payne
Alex Rowe
Oliver Sills
Ross Spendlove

Subs used:
Rudy Ashenden
Teddy Dunning
Orpheas Nikopoulos
Edward Thackeray

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(A) AFC Dunstable

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(A) AFC Dunstable (SPECTATORS NOT PERMITTED)

Leverstock Green played their first pre-season friendly on Tuesday night away to AFC Dunstable, behind closed doors at Creasey Park. It was the first time the side had played any sort of match in five months.

The Green side took the lead in the 11th minute through debutant Mickey Shuttlewood, who powerfully headed home a corner in off the underside of the bar. Shuttlewood was replaced by Gary Wallace before half time after taking a knock.

AFC Dunstable hit the bar with a header, and were denied by some good saves from Green keeper Adi Connolly as Leverstock took their 1-0 lead into half time.

The second half saw a further eight changes to the Leverstock side. Five minutes into the second half Connolly made a good save in a one-on-one situation, but seconds later was beaten by an unstoppable shot for the equaliser. Another impressive shot put AFC into a 2-1 lead in the 58th minute, and although the Green side put on some pressure over the closing minutes, that proved to be the final score.

It was a good performance overall from the Leverstock side against higher division opposition, in the first half in particular the defence did well to contain the threat of prolific striker BJ Christie.

Starting XI: Adi Connolly, Brogan Townsend, Mickey Shuttlewood, Jamie Ovington, Brima Johnson, Jack Stevens, John Smith, James Hall, Tom Carter, Ollie Lawford. Luke Peerless.

Subs included: Gary Wallace, Kai Stonnell, Kian Wilkes, Ollie Cox, Tyler Martin, Frank Jowle, Will Bisney.

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(A) Dunstable Town

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(A) Dunstable Town

Leverstock Green added another win and three points to their total with another impressive comeback win in Saturday’s SSML Premier Division match at Dunstable Town. For the second week running the Green came from behind to win with a late header, having been trailing 2-1 with ten minutes left. It was an exciting game to watch on a chilly afternoon at Creasey Park.

With keeper Matt Fallon still injured, 16 year old Adi Connolly took his place between the sticks and had an eventful game. The home side had the better of the early exchanges, with Connolly confidently claiming a corner in the 4th minute, and gathering a shot from Daniel Trif in the 10th minute.

Leverstock should have taken the lead in the 21st minute from their first chance. Conor Blake did well before pulling the ball back to Adiel Mannion, whose cross found John Smith in space on the edge of the six yard box. Smith brought the ball down, but his shot was straight at keeper Dan Gould, who palmed the ball away. However, seconds later they were threatening again, and a cross from Frankie Jowle found Conor Blake, who drilled home a shot into the bottom corner of the net to score his first goal for the club.

Three minutes later another cross from Jowle found Blake again, but this time his shot went wide. In the 27th minute at the other end, Khy Smith-Reid went on a mazy run into the box, but Connolly came off his line to block the shot. The game continued to be end-to-end. On 31 minutes Louie Griffiths was clean through and tried to slip a shot between Gould’s legs, but it was deflected wide off Gould’s right heel. Four minutes later Connolly came off his line again to dive at the feet of Oliver Reagan. There was another Leverstock chance on 37 minutes as Griffiths pulled the ball back to Smith, who shot wide. In the 40th minute Connolly again came sprinting off his line, but this time it didn’t work out so well as his challenge on Ben Collins was late, and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Connolly got a yellow card for the foul, and couldn’t stop the penalty as Chris Stapleton levelled the scores at 1-1.

Leverstock went close again in the third minute of the second half. Griffiths floated in what looked like a cross from the left side of the penalty area, but it was heading for the top corner of the net until Gould stretched out an arm to turn it wide. In the 54th minute there was a nasty collision as Connolly and Dunstable forward Luke Little both went for the same ball. Both players received lengthly treatment, with Little having to leave the game and Connolly continuing despite suffering a leg injury.

On 62 minutes a Dunstable corner sparked a goalmouth scramble in which the Green defence seemed to have got the ball away after a couple of blocks, but then Jack Stevens put in a tackle in which he appeared to win the ball, but the referee considered it dangerous and awarded Dunstable another penalty. Stapleton again got the better of Connolly from the spot to put his side 2-1 up.

A couple of minutes later Leverstock thought they had a case for a penalty of their own as Dan Weeks was pushed over while trying to get on the end of a Jowle free kick, but the referee waved away the protests. In the 79th minute Dunstable looked set to clinch the game as Joe Hankins went on a run at the defence. Hankins opened up the space for a clear shot, but Connolly got down to pull off a brilliant save and showed strong hands to hold onto the ball.

That turned out to be the match-winning save as Leverstock proceeded to turn the game around in a three-minute spell. On 81 minutes Jowle floated in a free kick which the Dunstable defence could not clear. Smith had the chance to score, but he miscued his shot, luckily into the path of Stevens, who bundled the ball home to equalise at 2-2.

Better was to follow in the 84th minute as Jowle delivered a corner, and substitute Luke Peerless came barrelling in to meet it with a thumping header to put Leverstock into a 3-2 lead, a triumphant return from injury for the midfielder.

After the earlier collision there was a lot of stoppage time for Leverstock to hold out through, but they successfully held onto their lead to claim their eighth league win of the season and move up to 10th in the table. It was a well-deserved result for a spirited display which also contained a lot of good football, and the bravery of Connolly’s performance should not be underestimated.

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(A) Dunstable Town

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(A) AFC Dunstable

A second half goal from Archie Taylor clinched a crucial three points for the under-18s as they won 1-0 away at second-placed AFC Dunstable. The result keeps the Leverstock side very much in touch with the top two, and sets up a huge match this coming Thursday when they host league leaders Luton Town Cedars.

Starting XI:
Charlie Milton
Kane O’Neil
Byron Lee-Clarke
Josh Flanagan
Harry Barrett
Ben Harris
Jamie Fulton
Paplamin Jawara
Louis Griffiths
Lewis Collins
Lucas Preston
Substitutes (all used):
Alec Wallace
Zak McNicholas
Archie Taylor

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