Leverstock Green had won their last two league games, but failed to follow that up on Easter Monday as they fell to a tame home defeat to Tring Athletic. Heavy rain throughout the night and the morning had left the pitch wet, and together with the increasing wind it didn’t make for the easiest conditions, but the Green side showed disappointingly little threat against their Dacorum neighbours.

Tring had the better chances of a quiet first half. In the 7th minute a mix-up at the back allowed Godlove Oppong to get round Austin Byfield, but his shot was deflected wide. Former Leverstock player Giuseppe Delgaudio hit a shot from distance in the 15th minute but it was fielded by Byfield. Four minutes later Leo Farruch found space in the box but his shot was cleared off the line.

Leverstock didn’t get a shot on target until the 24th minute but it was turned round the post by the keeper. In first half stoppage time Tring went close again when Oppong hit a rasping shot, but Byfield pulled off a great save to turn it around.

Leverstock’s best chance of the match came in the 60th minute. A corner was headed down to Chris Blunden, who connected with a shot on the turn, but it drifted just over the bar. The second half was genderally proving just as quiet as the first until the 67th minute, when Delgaudio hit a low shot from the edge of the box out of Byfield’s reach into the corner of the net to put Tring 1-0 up.

A good move in the 70th minute set up Ryan Carruthers for a shot from the edge of the box, which went just over the bar. A minute later Tring were threatening at the other end again, and a cross from Jack Harvey found Farruch with a free header to double Tring’s lead.

The match somewhat petered out after that, with Tring happy to sit on their lead and Leverstock unable to create any kind of chance. Leverstock have work to do from their remaining three matches if they are to secure a top ten finish.

Leverstock Green (0) 0
1. Austin Byfield, 2. Rio Beach, 3. Kurainashe Musanhi, 4. Dan Weeks, 18. Bobby ARmstrong, 6. Ryan Carruthers (19. Luke Durnin 71 mins), 7. Elgeniy Daalberg (12. Lewis Collins 60 mins), 8. Dan Pett, 9. Chris Blunden, 10. Ibrahim Nagheeb (15. George Mitchell-Gears 50 mins), 11. Richard Ennin. Subs not used: 14. Alfie Herd, 16. Ayomide Oke.
Tring Athletic (0) 2 (Delgaudio 67, Farruch 71)
1. Eric Negaru, 2. Eli Hearn, 3. Adam Sawyer, 4. Greg Deer, 7. Godlove Oppong (15. Callum Shortt 82 mins), 8. Jack Harvey, 9. Guiseppe Delgaudio, 12. Harrison Cornick, 14. George Carbery, 17. Leo Farruch, 18. Luke Peerless (11. Harry Shepherd 84 mins). Subs not used: 6. Leonard Armstrong, 10. Harrison Mead, 16. Liam Mann.

Leverstock Green bounced back from Saturday’s defeat with a superb performance to take all three points from second-placed Stotfold on Tuesday night. Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica’s second half penalty was enough for the win as a dogged performance at the back maintained a clean sheet.

The first half saw the visitors have more of the possession and the better chances. In the 9th minute a long bouncing ball caught out the Green defence to leave Liam Brooks through on goal. Brooks sent a lob over Austin Byfield but it landed wide of the goal. On 15 minutes Kade Bagge hit a rasping shot from distance, but Byfield produced a spectacular diving one-handed save to turn it wide. Leverstock’s only real sight of goal in the first half came in the 23rd minute when Stefanoaica sidestepped a defender to open up space for a shot, but it was comfortably gathered by keeper Liam Gooch.

The second half was more evenly-contested and could have gone either way. In the 52nd minute a headed flick from Stefanoaica gave Richard Ennin a run at goal, but his shot was blocked wide. Dan Pett took the resulting corner which found Alvin Kyeremeh, but his header went over the bar.

A change at the back in the 69th minute saw Luke Durnin replace the yellow-carded Bobby Armstrong, and seconds later Stotfold had a great chance when Kurtis Alleyne broke clear and squared for Bagge, who had the goal at his mercy but shot over the bar from six yards.

On 71 minutes Kyeremeh got his head on another corner from Pett, but it went just wide. Two minutes later Leverstock had their chance when Ibrahim Nagheeb was brought down just inside the left edge of the penalty area. The referee pointed straight to the spot, and Stefanoaica stepped up to take the kick. Gooch got a hand to Stefanoaica’s shot but it still found the corner of the net to put Leverstock 1-0 up.

Five minutes later Stefanoaica had to leave the game injured, to be replaced by Chris Blunden. On 79 minutes there was almost a second goal as Ennin went on a run before hitting a curling shot which went inches wide of the far post.

The Green defence came under heavy pressure through a period of six minutes of stoppage time, but held firm to claim an impressive win which moves them back up to 8th place and will give some hope to the sides chasing Stotfold for second place.

Leverstock Green (0) 1 (Stefanoaica 73 pen)
1. Austin Byfield, 2. Ethan Mooney, 3. Rio Beach, 18. Bobby Armstrong (19. Luke Durnin 69 mins), 5. Alvin Kyeremeh, 6. Ryan Carruthers, 7. Elgeniy Daalberg, 8. Dan Pett, 9. Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica (12. Chris Blunden 78 mins), 10. Ibrahim Nagheeb, 11. Richard Ennin. Subs not used: 14. Kurainashe Musanhi, 15. George Mitchell-Gears, 16. Dan Weeks.
Stotfold (0) 0
1. Liam Gooch, 2. Sammy Nicholls (16. Charlie Moss 75 mins), 3. Jordon Stewart, 4. Alex Coppin, 5. Jack Bradshaw, 6. Charlie Briggs, 7. Kade Bagge (14. Temi Akinbusoye 75 mins), 8. Mason Spence (12. Murphy Culkin 87 mins), 9. Kurtis Alleyne (15. Archie Sayer 71 mins), 10. Liam Brooks (17. Jordan Stevenson 75 mins), 11. Aaron Hector.

Leverstock Green were beaten for a second Saturday in a row, but this time it was a goal deep into stoppage time which saw them beaten at home by Cockfosters. It was a game of few chances between two very evenly-matched teams in which a draw would have been a fair result, but it was not to be in the end.

Leverstock had the better of the early part of the game, although with little to show for it. A foul on Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica gave them a free kick in a dangerous position on the edge of the box on 14 minutes, but Ibrahim Nagheeb’s effort flew over the bar. Danny May went closer with a shot from distance in the 27th minute but it was still wide of the target.

Cockfosters had shown little threat up to this point, but they took the lead in the 37th minute when Leverstock failed to deal with the visitors’ main tactic – the long throw. A huge throw was flicked on towards the far post where Aiden Read headed home. They almost got a second goal in the 43rd minute but were denied by a double save from Austin Byfield, the second of them turning the ball over the bar with his feet.

Leverstock made a brighter start to the second half, and found the equaliser five minutes in. Chris Blunden flicked the ball through to Stefanoaica, who rode a couple of challenges on a run into the box before slotting home from a narrow angle to level the scores.

The Green side continued to push forward but were unable to create any clear-cut chances. Cockfosters continued to use the long throw at every opportunity, and a couple of them caused moments of danger inside the Leverstock six-yard box, but as the game went into stoppage time, the scores were still level, and it was difficult to argue that either side deserved to win or lose the game.

For a game that saw few stoppages, the stoppage time went on for an inordinately long time. Over 5 minutes had been played when another long throw came into the Green box. The immediate danger appeared to have been cleared, but a shot from outside the box by Ethan Rookard was only parried away by Byfield, and Harrison Rookard was first to the rebound for an easy tap-in to win the game.

Leverstock Green (0) 1 (Stefanoaica 50)
1. Austin Byfield, 2. Alvin Kyeremeh, 3. Kurainashe Musanhi (14. Richard Ennin 66 mins), 4. Luke Durnin, 5. Danny May, 6. Rio Beach, 7. Elgeniy Daalberg (16. Ethan Mooney 74 mins), 8. Dan Pett, 9. Chris Blunden, 10. Ibrahim Nagheeb, 11. Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica. Subs not used: 12. Ryan Carruthers, 15. George Mitchell-Gears, 18. Bobby Armstrong.
Cockfosters (1) 2 (Read 37, H.Rookard 90+6)
1. Charlie Mann, 2. Kenny Nobrega, 3. Prince Madu, 4. Matt Thomson, 5. Aiden Read, 6. Jay Lovell, 7. Antonio Michael, 8. Chris Griffin (14. Joe Entwistle 74 mins), 9. George Devine (16. Harrison Rookard 76 mins), 10. George Sippetts (17. Ethan Rookard 62 mins), 11. Cory Ugbomah (15. Reece Barrett 84 mins). Sub not used: 12. Olly Finch.