Leverstock Green ended a run of five straight league defeats, but their goalless run now extends to six games after a 0-0 draw against Edgware Town at Pancake Lane on Saturday. The Green side had more possession over the game and more chances, but still could not put the ball in the net.

There was certainly a lot of promise about the way the side played during the first half up the slope, but the lack of a final ball meant that chances were limited. In the 20th minute a cross from Kane O’Neil found Shane Wood at the far post, but his header went wide. Two minutes later another cross from O’Neil found Lewis Collins, who connected with a good shot but it looped just over the bar. The closest they came was in the 32nd minute when Ethan Flanagan met Karran Lataille’s corner with a header that was cleared off the line by Edgware defender Rio Beech.

The second half saw Leverstock continue to push forward, although Edgware came more into the game and began to look dangerous on the break. A shot from Khalil Francis on the hour produced the first save of the game as Ryan Schmid deflected it wide with his legs. Two minutes later a pass from Jamie Fulton gave Reece Cameron a run at goal, but his eventual shot was saved at the near post by Edgware keeper Harry Hauserman.

There was another chance in the 78th minute when a corner from Lataille was brought down by Wood at the far post to set up Cameron with a shot, but it went across the face of goal and wide. Two minutes from time Wood hurled a long throw into the box which was headed away, but only as far as Luis Brooker on the edge of the box. Brooker caught his shot well on the volley, but Hauserman produced a great save to tip it over the bar. A minute later Hauserman saved again, tipping a narrow-angle effort from Cameron onto the post as Leverstock continued to be frustrated in front of goal.

The end result was a point which might prove to be crucial at the end of the season and a first clean sheet for Ryan Schmid, but there is still work for this Leverstock side to do to get themselves into a position of safety. Next Saturday they travel to Crawley Green.

Leverstock Green suffered another heavy home defeat on Tuesday night to a strong Colney Heath side. The Green side started the match well, and had plenty of possession over the opening 15 minutes, although didn’t create any chances during this time.

The game’s first effort on goal came in the 15th minute, and it was from former Green striker Chris Blunden, who turned and shot home from the edge of the penalty area to open the scoring.

Reece Cameron had Leverstock’s first serious shot in the 23rd minute, an effort from distance which went over the angle of post and bar. The game was still evenly-contested at this stage, but a mistake from keeper Ryan Schmid allowed Blunden an easy second goal in the 37th minute, which left Leverstock with a mountain to climb in the second half.

Schmid did well to tip over a header from a corner in the 52nd minute, but had no chance two minutes later when Jack Woods hit a shot from the edge of the box into the corner of the net for the third goal. In the 76th minute Schmid was adjudged to have bundled over an opponent inside the box, allowing Blunden to complete his hat-trick from the penalty spot. Colney added their fifth in the 81st minute when Woods crossed for Andy Sears-Black to head home, the margin of victory not flattering to a side who completely controlled the second half.

Leverstock continue their quest for crucial points with a trip to Potton United on Saturday.

 

Leverstock Green fell to their third defeat in a row, but they were unlucky to get nothing out of a game in which the strong wind played havoc throughout. Baldock won the game with two goals midway through the first half, but Leverstock had three good chances and a penalty shout turned down.

The Green side made a good start to the game and almost had a chance in the opening thirty seconds when Reece Cameron hooked a pass through to Lewis Collins, but a defender got in just ahead of Collins. 15 minutes into the game Collins had a genuine chance when a pass from Jamie Fulton put him clean through, but Baldock keeper Adam Harpur pulled off a great save to keep it out, and Toby Syme’s effort on the rebound was blocked wide. The effect of the wind was demonstrated when Mark Smith took the resulting corner – the ball got halfway towards the goal but then turned back towards him.

Having done well over the opening 20 minutes, Leverstock then found themselves behind in the 21st minute when Daril Ngwala hit a shot from the edge of the penalty area which was just out of Ryan Schmid’s reach and crept inside the post. Worse was to follow four minutes later when Kieran Barnes hit a shot from distance which Schmid parried away, but Charlie Payne followed up to net the rebound and put Baldock into a 2-0 lead.

Late in the first half Leverstock were denied a chance to get back into the game. There appeared to be a clear handball by a Baldock defender in the penalty area, but the referee waved away the claims for a spot kick.

Two minutes into the second half there was another big moment for the Green side when a poor back header gave Cameron the chance of a clear shot at goal. Harpur got a hand to the shot, but it was still heading for the net until defender Marcus Crowther scrambled back to clear it off the line.

Cameron was denied again in the 64th minute as he hit a great shot from the edge of the box which was tipped over the bar by Harpur.

There was little else in the way of chances during the second half, with Baldock creating little to trouble Schmid, but Leverstock just couldn’t find the goal to get them back into the game.

Next up for Matt Harding’s side is a home game against Colney Heath on Tuesday night, kick-off 7.45 pm.

It was a very inexperienced Leverstock Green side that took the field against 4th placed Biggleswade United, and the outcome was predictably one-sided, although three of the visitors’ goals came from unstoppable strikes as against only two from defensive mistakes.

With goalkeeper Ryan Schmid being recalled by Kings Langley for one game, plus all three central defenders on loan from AFC Dunstable being unavailable, and with both Mark Smith and Luke Preedy being suspended after their red cards last week, Matt Harding was missing the spine of the team that had played so well against Biggleswade F.C. in midweek. Apart from skipper Seldyn Grant, all the players in the squad were 20 years old or younger.

Having said that, the Green side came very close to going in front inside thirty seconds. Attacking straight from the kick-off, Luke Nugent played the ball out to Wesley Iroegbu, and when Iroegbu’s cross to the near post wasn’t cleared, Nugent came in with a shot which was cleared off the line by defender Joe Gauge. There was another good chance in the 12th minute when Jamie Fulton played a through ball to Lejhai Henriques, who attempted a lob over the keeper, but it was blocked.

The makeshift Green defence, lacking any specialist centre-backs, had done well against the visitors’ attacks initially, but in the 14th minute Joe Hankins hit a superb shot from outside the box which gave debutant keeper George Waters no chance as it flew into the net to open the scoring. There was another impressive strike in the 22nd minute from former Leverstock striker David Parkinson, who turned inside the box and drilled home a shot from a narrow angle in at the near post for their second goal.

A goal-line clearance from Toby Syme prevented a third goal in the 30th minute, and Hankins was close to his second five minutes later with a shot that went just over the bar. However, just as they had started the half well, the Leverstock side ended the half well, and came close to pulling a goal back in the 43rd minute when an excellent dipping shot from Iroegbu was tipped over the bar by keeper Ollie Leslie.

The visitors continued their dominance in the second half, but despite early chances, it look them until the 62nd minute to add the third goal, when Hankins was put through, and although his shot from a narrow angle hit the post, Jaiden Irish got to the rebound first to put the ball into the net. The fourth goal arrived within two minutes, though, and this one was something of a soft goal as the Green defence fluffed at least two chances to clear the ball from their own box before Taylor Rhiney had a simple finish to slot home.

Two goals in such quick succession could have opened the floodgates, and on 69 minutes it should have been five when Seldyn Grant was adjudged to have brought down an opponent in the box, but Kane Farrell hit the bar with his penalty. The fifth goal did arrive five minutes later when Rhiney hit a tremendous long-distance strike that gave Waters absolutely no chance, but that turned out to be the extent of the scoring.

The Leverstock side is in the midst of a tough run of games, with next Saturday bringing a trip to Biggleswade F.C.