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).

Leverstock Green secured a third season at Step 4 with four games to spare as their three points against MK Irish on Good Friday gave them an unassailable 15 point gap from the drop zone and lifted them up to the dizzy heights of 15th in the Southern League Division One Central table. It was a third straight win for Fergus Moore’s side, all of them by the same score of 2-0.

For the most part this was an end-of-season game with little quality on display, certainly not helped by the difficult windy conditions. Leverstock had their goalkeeper Ashton Broome-Alexander to thank for keeping them in the game as the visitors had the only three efforts on goal of the first half. Broome-Alexander turned a shot from Ryan Smith round the post in the 6th minute, and produced a similar save at the other post in the 27th minute from the same player. In the 40th minute Broome-Alexander pulled off a great save with his legs to keep out a close range shot from Owen Brooks.

The second half proceeded in a similar fashion, with what few chances there were being created by the visitors. In the 58th minute Clinton Zawe headed wide from a corner. In the 72nd minute Kyle Boyce was through on goal, but Broome-Alexander produced another great save with his legs, and recovered to keep out follow-up efforts from Kwai Marsh-Brown and James Meadows.

With Enfield losing their game, the point would have been enough for Leverstock to confirm their safety, but having not had a meaningful effort on goal for the first 83 minutes of the game, they went on to take all three points with a smash and grab. In the 84th minute two substitutes combined as Joe McCarthy crossed from the right to find Jack Allen in the box, but before Allen could do anything with the ball he was brought down. The referee pointed to the penalty spot, and Jeffrey Sekyere stepped up to net his 25th goal of the season from the spot kick.

Better was to come in the first minute of stoppage time. Kombe Kawimbe played a long ball from his own half which should have been intercepted on the edge of the box, but the defender slipped to leave Allen through on goal, and he slotted the ball under keeper Tom Ladyman to score the crucial second goal for the third game in a row.

Leverstock have four games remaining, with the next one being a visit to AFC Dunstable on Easter Monday, and will now be looking to see just how high up the table they can finish.

Leverstock Green (0) 2 (Sekyere 84 pen, Allen 90+1)
1. Ashton Broome-Alexander, 2. Ademide Baruwa, 3. Rio Beach, 4. Kombe Kawimbe, 5. Carmicheal Uchenna, 6. Ryan Carruthers (14. Callum Donnelly 78 mins), 7. Iker Noguera Leon (16. Callum Neal 85 mins), 8. George Mitchell-Gears (12. Nat Connolly 49 mins), 9. Jeffrey Sekyere, 10. Marcus Warren (15. Joe McCarthy 58 mins), 11. Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica (18. Jack Allen 65 mins).
Milton Keynes Irish (0) 0
1. Tom Ladyman, 2. Clinton Zawe, 5. Oliver Kalek, 6. Nathan Smith, 8. Ryan Smith, 9. James Meadows (16. Kelvin Osei-Addo 81 mins), 10. Owen Brooks (3. Kyle Boyce 67 mins), 11. George Shrieves (7. Kwai Marsh-Brown 28 mins), 14. Freddy Joyce, 18. Nat Beecher, 20. Mason Spence. Subs not used: 12. Matthew Haworth, 15. Joshua Guthrie.

Leverstock Green moved closer to safety with three more crucial points from Saturday’s Division One Central fixture against Flackwell Heath. The win takes them to 40 points, one more than last season’s final points total with six games remaining.

The visitors made the stronger start to the game, with striker Jack Shakespeare being denied twice early on, firstly by a save from Ashton Broome-Alexander in the 6th minute, and again by a goalline clearance from Olusegun Adedipe in the 13th minute.

However, it was Leverstock that took the lead in the 18th minute from their first real attack of the game. Nat Connolly had the ball in a threatening position 30 yards out and played it wide to Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica, and when Stefanoaica beat his man and crossed from the bye-line, Connolly had continued his run into the six-yard box to meet the cross with a shot that slipped under the body of keeper Henry Upstell. It was only Connolly’s second goal for the club in 122 appearances.

Leverstock had their tails up now and should have had the game put away by half time. In the 28th minute a pass from Carmicheal Uchenna put Iker Noguera Leon through on goal, but Leon’s chip over Upstell went wide of the target. Within a minute a pass from Stefanoaica put Leon in again with an even better chance, and his low shot beat Upstell but again went just wide. In the 35th minute Jeffrey Sekyere went on a solo run into the box which took him clean through against Upstell, but again his shot went wide of the same post.

The lead was still a single goal as the second half started, but Flackwell had a chance to level in the 50th minute when a pass found Shakespeare with space to shoot, but Broome-Alexander pulled off a great save to keep the shot out with his right leg. For much of the second half Leverstock were pinned in their own half, and Flackwell went close again in the 74th minute when a header from Larry Kagwa went just wide.

A second goal was needed, and it finally arrived in the 88th minute. Substitutes Jack Allen and Joe McCarthy were both involved as the ball was cleared upfield. McCarthy and Marcus Warren both tried to carve out shooting chances on the edge of the box, but eventually the ball went to Sekyere, whose shot was parried by Upstell. Allen’s effort from the rebound was also saved, but at the second attempt Allen forced the ball home to ensure that Leverstock would be taking all the points.

Leverstock Green (1) 2 (Connolly 18, Allen 88)
1. Ashton Broome-Alexander, 2. Kombe Kawimbe, 3. Rio Beach, 4. Dan Pett, 20. Olusegun Adedipe (15. George Mitchell-Gears 56 mins), 6. Ryan Carruthers, 7. Iker Noguera Leon (18. Jack Allen 78 mins), 8. Carmicheal Uchenna, 9. Jeffrey Sekyere (12. Callum Donnelly 89 mins), 10. Nat Connolly (16. Marcus Warren 70 mins), 11. Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica (14. Joe McCarthy 66 mins).
Flackwell Heath (0) 0
1. Henry Upstell, 2. Ryan Avery (16. Neilon Pascall 66 mins), 3. Lewis Patrick, 4.Harry Mepham, 5. Sean McGuinness, 6. Lewis Pegg (14. Matt Roberts 64 mins), 7. Jamie Ayres (17. Josh Sapwell 82 mins), 8. Ben Stallard, 9. Lindell Stewart (15. Larry Kagwa 59 mins), 10. Jack Shakespeare, 11. Eli Grant (12. Bruce Nsang 55 mins).