Leverstock Green opened the new year with three points as they claimed a hard-fought win against Dunstable Town. The Pancake Lane pitch is not in the best shape at the moment, and although the pitch passed a morning inspection, it was a difficult surface for both sides to play on, with a bobbly surface and a lack of bounce, and the game was hardly a great spectacle.

It was the visitors who had the game’s first efforts at goal in the 10th minute, with a succession of shots being blocked in the six-yard box before Luke Little hit a shot high and wide of the target. Matt Fallon comfortably gathered a shot from Joe Hankins in the 21st minute.

Leverstock had won a couple of corners, but their first effort on goal came in the 28th minute when John Smith shot just wide from the edge of the box. Dunstable had a good chance on the break in the 36th minute, but Daniel Trif ballooned his shot over the bar. Five minutes before half time Chris Gosling was brought down just outside the box to give Leverstock a free kick in a great position, but Luke Peerless shot wide from the free kick as the first half ended in stalemate.

There was some controversy in the 52nd minute when Peerless appeared to be barged over when running through on goal, but the referee waved play on. Adiel Mannion protested about the non-decision, and as a result was sent to the sin-bin for ten minutes. It was while Leverstock were playing with ten men that they scored the game’s only goal. Half time substitute Jamie Ovington delivered a superb cross from the right touchline, and Peerless got on the end of it to head home.

That proved to be an isolated moment of quality as the game continued to be scrappy. Dunstable felt they had a good shout for a penalty later in the half, but again the referee was unmoved, and they came close to an equaliser in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Chris Stapleton got on the end of a corner with a looping header that went just over the bar, with many in the ground thinking it had gone in.

Leverstock held on for their third win over Dunstable this season, with Peerless having scored the winning goal in two of them. The three points means that Leverstock have already topped last season’s points tally after just 22 games.

Leverstock Green ended 2019 in disappointing fashion as they fell to a 3-0 home defeat to Crawley Green in Saturday’s SSML Premier Division game. On a very sticky Pancake Lane pitch, the Leverstock side created little, while the visitors were clinical in taking their chances.

The first effort on goal came in the 6th minute, an ambitious attempt by Jamie Ovington to lob the visiting keeper George Rose from the halfway line, Rose gathering the ball comfortably. Two minutes later the visitors were ahead. A through ball found striker Danny Watson ahead of the last Leverstock defender. The view of most in the crowd had been that Watson was offside, but the linesman’s flag stayed down and Watson ran on to take the ball past Matt Fallon and slot into the empty net.

Leverstock had some chances to level the scores. In the 13th minute Louie Griffiths made a good run before squaring for Conor Blake, who got a shot away, but it was saved by Rose. In the 19th minute a free kick from Frankie Jowle found Griffiths, but his header was blocked. The closest Leverstock came to scoring was in the 25th minute. A fine cross from Jowle found Ovington, whose header came down off the underside of the bar but was palmed away by Rose. Jack Stevens made an attempt at the loose ball but was flagged offside.

Leverstock continued to push forward, but as was the case for much of the game, they were unable to find the final ball to create the clear-cut chances. The state of the pitch certainly didn’t help, but as in their previous home game against Edgware, they were playing a side whose home turf is artificial, but who coped with the muddy conditions better. A second Crawley Green goal in the final minute of the half made it an even tougher task for the Leverstock side, and it was a well-worked goal with Billy Lobjoit threading a pass to Glenn Cooksley, who slotted the ball past Fallon with one touch.

The second half saw plenty of effort from the Leverstock side, but again little was created, and it was the visitors who came closest to scoring a couple of times on the break before they finally did add a third goal in the 83rd minute. Leverstock twice missed the chance to clear the ball before Phil Draycott shot home from the edge of the area.

Draycott’s joy was short-lived, as within two minutes he had been shown a second yellow card and sent off, but the ten men had no difficulty holding onto their three-goal lead over the final minutes.

It was a disappointing afternoon for Leverstock Green as they fell to their second straight league defeat, going down 2-0 at home to Edgware Town in Saturday’s SSML Premier Division game.

Continuing rain through the week had left the Pancake Lane pitch in a muddy state, and it was the visitors who played the conditions better than the Leverstock side, who often got bogged down trying to play intricate football on an unsuitable surface. In general the performance was below the standard that had been set by the last few games.

Edgware had a chance to go in front with just over a minute played, but Scott McGleish lashed a shot over the bar from a corner. Leverstock’s first effort on goal came in the 10th minute, Steve Hawes shooting over the bar after the ball had been passed around the edge of the penalty area. In the 18th minute Cass Grant and Frankie Jowle combined down the left to set up a shooting chance for John Smith, but the Green skipper passed up a couple of opportunities to get his shot away while trying to work a better position and eventually lost the ball.

Matt Fallon, who returned to the Leverstock goal this afternoon from injury, saved a shot from Danny Taylor in the 21st minute. Seven minutes later it looked like Leverstock had escaped again when a shot from Steve Benavides was cleared off the line by Zak Howells, but the ball went back to Benavides, who found the net at the second attempt to put Edgware into a 1-0 lead.

The visitors doubled their lead in the 35th minute as Rio Beech lofted a pass from his own half which went over the head of Jack Stevens to leave Adam Page clean through on goal, and he ran on to slot home past Fallon for the second Edgware goal.

Leverstock needed to get a goal back quickly to get back into the game, but Smith’s shot on 38 minutes went over the bar, and an attempt from Grant on 42 minutes may have been goalbound but was nodded wide by a defender. In the last minute of the half both keepers were in action as Adiel Mannion was denied by a save from Fraser Siddall, and Fallon turned a shot from McGleish wide.

Three minutes into the second half Chris Gosling floated a free kick into the box that Dan Weeks got on the end of, but his header went over the bar. On 50 minutes Edgware were unlucky not to get a third when an effort from Taylor hit the post, while seconds later at the other end Hawes hit Leverstock’s best effort of the game so far, a dipping shot from distance that cleared the bar by inches.

Three substitutions could not turn the game around, although one of the subs Luke Peerless produced a great volley in the 82nd minute that brought a good save out of Siddall. The Green side battled to the end, but Edgware held on comfortably for a deserved win.