A late equaliser from Scott Burge rescued a point for Leverstock Green as they drew 2-2 with London Colney in Saturday’s SSML Premier Division fixture at Pancake Lane. With seven first team players injured or unavailable it was a very depleted squad for today’s game, with three of the under-18 squad starting. However, the side put in a great effort in an entertaining game and deserved to get something out of it.

Leverstock had a chance in the third minute after good work from Casey Linsell and Scott Burge set up Chris Gosling to square for Brima Johnson, who turned and shot from close range, but his shot was smothered by keeper Jack Medcalf. In the 10th minute Linsell played a pass to give Burge a run at goal, but he shot wide.

In the 16th minute London Colney had a chance when Kambo Smith went on a solo run from the halfway line and was through on Mackenzie Taylor, but the young keeper did well to dive at Smith’s feet and claim the ball. Four minutes later the visitors had the ball in the net when a cross was headed home, but the referee disallowed it for pushing. In the 28th minute Leverstock also had the ball in the net as Liam McCrohan headed home Linsell’s free kick, but that one was disallowed for offside. Two minutes later there was a third disallowed goal as London Colney put the ball in the net after a save from Taylor, but the offside flag was up.

On the stroke of half time Leverstock took the lead with a spectacular goal. A throw from Luke Nugent found Ben Darby, whose crossfield pass should have been cut out by a defender, but the defender missed it and the ball ran through to Casey Linsell, who absolutely leathered a first time shot from 30 yards which flew past Medcalf and in off the post.

The visitors went close to levelling in first half stoppage time as Bobby Armstrong headed over the bar from a corner, but five minutes into the second half they finally put the ball into the net for a goal that stood. A free kick into the box was not well dealt with by the Green defence, and Kambo Smith was gifted an equaliser.

London Colney were having much the better of the second half, and went in front in the 75th minute when Anton Johnson came in at the far post to meet a cross and shoot home.

However, seven minutes from time McCrohan chased a ball down to the goal line and kept it in before pulling it back into the penalty area, where Scott Burge was on hand to shoot home the equaliser. It was a first senior goal for Burge, who is top scorer for the under-18s, and he became the first player born in the 21st century to score a first team goal for Leverstock Green.

A couple of minutes later the visitors were denied what they felt was a clear-cut penalty, but the referee saw it differently and booked their player for diving. Leverstock could then have won the game in stoppage time. Brima Johnson curled in a great ball from near the left touchline, which found substitute Jay Wilson coming in unchallenged on the overlap, but Wilson got the ball caught under his foot as he tried to slot home. Seconds later there was another chance but Chris Gosling shot over the bar.

In the end a draw was a good result, but it was a fourth draw in a run of five games without a win for Leverstock, a run which has seen them drop out of the top six. They have four games remaining to get as high a finish as possible, and they still have a trophy to play for, with a St Mary’s Cup semi-final away to Oxhey Jets on Tuesday.

Man of the Match for today’s game was shared by two under-18s, Scott Burge, who ran non-stop during the first half and got the vital equaliser, and Max Jessop, who gave an excellent performance alongside skipper Shane Wood in the centre of defence.

 

A great effort by Bill Dawes and Keith Pym in clearing and re-marking the lines on the snow-covered pitch allowed Saturday’s home game against Cockfosters to go ahead, but the result did not go the way of the Leverstock side.

After Leverstock had seen the better of the early chances it was Cockfosters who took the lead from the penalty spot, but their lead was short-lived as Jonathan Lacey equalised on 21 minutes, and skipper Shane Wood put the Green in front with an effort from close range on 35 minutes.

Leverstock went into the second half leading 2-1, but an error from keeper Mackenzie Taylor allowed Cockfosters to equalise. A second penalty converted by Oscar Egboh put Cockfosters into a 3-2 lead, and Piero Bagarone added a fourth win ten minutes remaining. Jonathan Lacey netted the third penalty of the game to put the Green back into it with four minutes left, but Cockfosters held on to come away with a 4-3 win.

Next up for Leverstock is a visit to Tring Athletic next Saturday.

Leverstock Green turned in another excellent performance to beat Biggleswade United 3-1 in Saturday’s SSML Premier Division match at Pancake Lane, extending their winning run to three games.

With regular keeper Matt Evans out injured, and Caolan Doyle-Creamer having trials with the MK Dons Academy, there was a first team debut for under-18 keeper Taylor Mackenzie, who gave a confident performance.

Leverstock had the better of the play from the start, although there was little goalmouth action in the early minutes. The visitors won the first corner of the game in the 20th minute, which Mackenzie punched away to the edge of the box, where Ricky Christie met it with a drilled shot just wide. The opening goal in the 34th minute came about in unusual circumstances. The ball was passed back to Biggleswade keeper Carlos Vivas, and as Vivas was about to kick the ball clear, Jonathan Lacey chased him down. Vivas’ clearance struck Lacey on the backside and rebounded into the net to put Leverstock into a 1-0 lead.

It could have been 2-0 four minutes later when Lacey robbed a defender and threaded a pass through to Nick Jackson, but Vivas saved Jackson’s shot. On 41 minutes a free kick from Casey Linsell was headed down to Luke Marsh, whose shot went over the bar. A minute before the break Linsell was on the end of a foul from former Green player David Parkinson, and got up to retaliate, but the referee showed both players yellow cards.

The visitors made a double substitution at half time, but as has been the case many times this season Leverstock got a goal early in the second half. Biggleswade were unable to clear the ball from their own box, and Vivas did well to parry away a couple of shots, but a third shot from Luke Nugent was parried into the path of Lacey, who had a simple tap-in to put Leverstock into a 2-0 lead in the 49th minute.

A wayward pass at the back allowed the visitors to pull a goal back in the 64th minute, with Kane Farrell slotting the ball past Mackenzie. Farrell went close to levelling the scores four minutes later with a long-range free kick which Mackenzie did well to turn away.

However, the Green restored their two-goal advantage in the 75th minute. Zak Howells, who had come off the bench to return from his second injury lay-off of the season, delivered a great cross to the far post. Ross Adams put the ball back across goal to set up an easy finish from close range for Luke Marsh.

The result was never in doubt after that, with Leverstock collecting a well-deserved three points which keeps them in sixth place in the table and increases their advantage over the seventh-placed visitors to ten points. There were a number of good performances, including Shane Wood and Chris Gosling, but the Man of the Match award went to Ross Adams.

Next Saturday, weather permitting, Leverstock travel to Barton Rovers’ ground to face Crawley Green.