Leverstock Green signed off an excellent season with their seventh straight win. The three points were enough to move them up to a final position of 12th in the Southern League Division One Central.

The game against already-relegated Northwood was a somewhat low-key end-of-season affair. Leverstock almost went in front in the 4th minute when Ryan Carruthers got on the end of an Iker Noguera Leon corner, but Carruthers’ header was tipped over the bar by visiting keeper Olly Sinclair. However, the opening goal was not long in arriving. In the 10th minute a cross from Joe McCarthy found Jeffrey Sekyere, who worked the space for a shot that Sinclair could not hold on to. Leon followed in and netted the loose ball to open the scoring.

There could have been a second goal three minutes later as Sekyere ran onto a pass from McCarthy and got to the bye-line, but his cross went across the face of goal with no-one getting on the end of it. In the 17th minute Sekyere pounced on a defensive mistake and tried to send a lob over the stranded Sinclair, but didn’t get enough on it and the effort was cleared.

The second half saw Leverstock have some good possession around the box but a reluctance to shoot saw Sinclair largely untroubled. George Eldridge, top scorer for both the Under-18s and Reserves this season, was given another opportunity to come off the bench and scored his first goal for the first team in the 77th minute. Carmicheal Uchenna created it with a mazy run past several defenders before threading a pass through to Eldridge, who neatly passed the ball past Sinclair into the corner of the net.

Another under-18 player Ashton Corder also came off the bench for his first team debut, and was denied a debut goal in the 84th minute when Sinclair turned his shot around the post.

Leverstock Green (1) 2 (Leon 10, Eldridge 77)
1. Ashton Broome-Alexander, 2. George Mitchell-Gears (16. Callum Neal 60 mins), 3. Rio Beach, 4. Dan Pett, 5. Kombe Kawimbe, 6. Ryan Carruthers (15. George Eldridge 69 mins), 7. Joe McCarthy (12. Ashton Corder 74 mins), 8. Ademide Baruwa, 9. Jeffrey Sekyere, 10. Nat Connolly (17. Carmicheal Uchenna 51 mins), 11. Iker Noguera Leon. Sub not used: 14. Callum Donnelly.
Northwood (0) 0
1. Olly Sinclair, 2.Andrew Osei-Bonsu, 3. Chase Matthew, 4. Richie Mbele (17. Tommy Cooney 88 mins), 5. Hamid Seisay, 6. Freddie Ford (16. Bryan Mankumbani 43 mins), 7. Alie Bangura, 8. Seth Patrick, 9. Hamza Miezou (14. Michael Kelly 64 mins), 10. Tobi Faleye (12. Riley Loveday 56 mins), 11. Mack Miskin (15. Dani Cruz 88 mins).

Leverstock Green recovered from a shaky start to record their fifth straight win in the Southern League Division One Central.

Things started badly when Jack Allen, scorer of five goals in the last four games, picked up a foot injury when landing awkwardly after his first touch of the ball. Allen tried to play on, but eventually had to leave the game in the 10th minute to be replaced by Joe McCarthy. By that time Leverstock were already a goal down. In the 7th minute a pass over the top from Max Davis put Jack Mattey through on goal. Ashton Broome-Alexander pulled off a great save to keep out Mattey’s shot, but Carmicheal Uchenna was running back towards goal and the rebound struck him in the face and rebounded back into the net for an own goal. Uchenna required treatment at the same time Allen was still struggling.

When the game restarted the visitors were rampant and could have added more goals. Davis hit a shot from the edge of the box just over the bar in the 10th minute, and two minutes later Joe Leslie was through on goal but hit his shot across goal and wide. Leverstock eventually got into the game, and should have equalised in the 18th minute. Callum Neal’s cross dropped for Jeffrey Sekyere, who took the ball in his stride but hit his shot over the bar.

Having neutralised the early threat of Mattey and Leslie, Leverstock were on top during the latter stages of the first half and eventually found their equaliser in the 41st minute. It was a superb goal, as Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica’s pass split the defence perfectly to find McCarthy, who only needed one touch as he dinked the ball over the oncoming keeper into the corner of the net.

The scores were level at the break, and it was the visitors who had the first chance of the second half as Austin Lipman got on the end of a through ball in the 53rd minute and sent a lob over Broome-Alexander, but it landed just over the bar. Leverstock then had a good chance to take the lead in the 59th minute. A pass from Marcus Warren put McCarthy through on goal. His shot was kept out by keeper Nathan Bloohn, and Bloohn also saved Sekyere’s effort from the rebound.

A finely-balanced game eventually went Leverstock’s way with fifteen minutes left. After a patient build-up with several passes around the penalty area, Iker Noguera Leon threaded the ball through to Uchenna, who drilled a shot past Bloohn to score at the right end and put Leverstock into the lead. Two minutes later Leverstock were threatening again. A cross from the right went just over McCarthy’s head, and the clearance only went as far as the edge of the penalty area, where Leon met it and lashed a fierce first time shot low past Bloohn to make it 3-1 to Leverstock.

The win took Leverstock over the 50 point mark and moved them up to 14th in the table, with potential to go still higher over the remaining two games.

Leverstock Green (1) 3 (McCarthy 41, Uchenna 75, Leon 77)
1. Ashton Broome-Alexander, 2. Callum Neal, 3. Carmicheal Uchenna, 4. Dan Pett, 5. Kombe Kawimbe, 6. Ryan Carruthers (12. Ademide Baruwa 61 mins), 8. Nat Connolly (20. Callum Donnelly 81 mins), 9. Jeffrey Sekyere, 10. Marcus Warren (16. Iker Noguera Leon 61 mins), 11. Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica (14. George Eldridge 77 mins), 18. Jack Allen (7. Joe McCarthy 10 mins).
London Lions (1) 1 (Uchenna og 7)
1. Nathan Bloohn, 2. Daniel Gillary (14. Oliver Benjamin 85 mins), 3. Benji Weinberger, 4. Josh Shack, 15. Nathan Merris, 6. Ben Bellman, 7. Jack Mattey (12. Tyler Smith 67 mins), 8. Max Davis, 9. Ben Barnett (16. Henry Seligman 85 mins), 10. Austin Lipman, 11. Joe Leslie (17. Noah Helfgott 73 mins).