Leverstock Green extended their winning run to four games and moved up another place to 7th in the SSML Premier Division with a 4-2 win over Hadley at Pancake Lane on Tuesday night. Hadley had been the only team to have beaten Leverstock in the previous ten games, but there was no repeat of that night’s performance as the Green side turned in another excellent display for a win that was perhaps more comfortable than the scoreline suggests.

There was a scare in the opening minute when Hadley hit the post after a cross from the left wasn’t dealt with, but it was Leverstock who got the early goal. There was an element of fortune about it, as Chris Marsh floated in a cross from the left edge of the penalty area that was intended for David Lawrence, but the ball drifted off course and caught Hadley keeper Tom Le Tissier off his line, sailing over his hands into the net with just two minutes on the clock. Although Marsh has many assists this season, this was the first time he had found the net himself.

Liam McCrohan came closest to extending the Leverstock lead in the 24th minute when he got on the end of a Marsh corner with a header that was saved by Le Tissier, and two minutes later Lawrence hit a shot just wide. A somewhat harsh handball decision against Scott Bonner presented Hadley with a penalty five minutes before the break, and David Laird made no mistake from the spot to level the scores.

Leverstock went close to regaining the lead in the last minute of the half as Marsh played an exquisite ball through to Matt Bateman, but Bateman’s clipped effort came back off the post.

Four minutes into the second half Leverstock were back in front. A corner from Marsh was not dealt with by the Hadley defence, as Shane Wood firstly had a header at the far post that was blocked, and then lobbed the ball back across goal where Bateman came in to nod home from close range.

There could have been another goal within a minute as Chris Gosling’s pass put Adams through on goal, but a defender got back to block his shot. Hadley could have struck back on 62 minutes when the Green defence was caught out by Alfie Bartram’s ball from the back to put Jake King through, but he hurriedly hit his shot wide.

Three minutes later Leverstock were attacking again as Bateman had the ball and made a powerful run down to the bye-line before squaring for Ross Adams to finish from close range for a 3-1 lead, scoring in similar fashion to his goal in Saturday’s game.

On 72 minutes a well-worked goal made it 4-1 to Leverstock. Alex McCarthy started the move, finding Bateman who in turn fed Alex Marsh down the right. Marsh’s cross was missed by Adams, but the ball went to Bateman, who calmly turned and stroked home a shot from the edge of the box for his second of the night, taking his tally for the season into double figures from just 13 appearances. Casey Linsell should have made it five on 77 minutes but he headed over the bar from Lawrence’s cross.

The points looked safe, but with 8 minutes left Hadley were given a faint glimmer of hope when a challenge from Linsell resulted in the referee awarding another penalty, and Lewis Francis netted the spot kick to pull the score back to 4-2.

The referee hadn’t finished yet, awarding another penalty three minutes later, this time to Leverstock for handball in the box. Bateman stepped up to complete his hat-trick, but it was not to be as his spot-kick hit the bar and went over. With skipper Wood carrying an injury over the closing minutes the Green side were content to hang onto their two-goal lead and register another win.

Next up for Leverstock is a visit to fifth-placed Hoddesdon Town on Saturday.

Leverstock Green continued their rise up the table as a 5-3 win over third-placed Biggleswade F.C. took them up to 8th in the SSML Premier Division. This impressive result was Leverstock’s seventh win from their last ten games and their third league win in a row.

Top scorer Matt Bateman was unavailable for this one, but with last season’s sixty-goal partnership of Curtis Donaldson and Jonathan Lacey starting, there was no shortage of firepower in the Green line-up. There was a near-miss in the opening minute when David Lawrence put the ball over the bar, and in the 5th minute Lacey played a one-two with Lawrence before having his shot saved by Daniel Green in the visitors’ goal. Green was in action again three minutes later when Ross Adams won the ball in a tackle and exchanged passes with Lacey to go clean through, but his shot was kept out by the keeper’s legs.

Leverstock were worth a goal and it duly arrived in the 10th minute. Chris Marsh played a pass to Lacey, who with defenders between him and the goal had plenty to do, but Lacey rode a couple of challenges before striking home a shot from the edge of the box to open the scoring.

At the other end three minutes later Leverstock keeper Reuben Rabstein did well to keep out a free kick from George Riley. Seconds later the Green were attacking again and Lacey was only denied by a last-ditch challenge. Leverstock doubled their lead in the 16th minute as Chris Marsh floated a free kick into the box, Lawrence headed the ball across goal and Shane Wood came in to shoot home the second goal. In the 23rd minute it became 3-0 as Wood hurled a long throw into the Biggleswade box, and the ball looped off the head of one of their defenders and over Green into their own net to put the Leverstock supporters in dreamland.

The visitors had been disappointing up to this stage but having gone 3-0 down they finally started to play like a team challenging for promotion. In the 29th minute Lee Northfield set up a clear shooting chance for Alex Marsh – one of two players on the field with that name – but Rabstein pulled off a good save. Six minutes later Marsh got on the end of a free kick from Riley with a header, but didn’t get a strong enough touch to divert it inside the far post.

Another long throw from Wood caused more chaos in the Biggleswade box in the 37th minute, but both Lawrence and Lacey had efforts blocked in the ensuing scramble. An unfortunate moment for Rabstein gifted the visitors a way back into the game five minutes into the break. Biggleswade skipper Adam Hunt floated a cross into the box, and Rabstein seemed unsure whether to catch it or punch it, and in the end did neither as he palmed the ball into his own net.

That goal gave the visitors some hope of a comeback going into the second half, and those hopes grew within thirty seconds of the restart as they pulled another goal back. A pass from Hunt found Tom Cookman on the edge of the box, and a slip by Wood left Cookman with the chance to shoot home and reduce the arrears to 3-2.

With left back Taishan Griffith causing a lot of problems down the Leverstock flank, the Green lead looked somewhat precarious for a while, however Wood and his defence soon got their solidity back and settled down. The Leverstock side regained a two-goal cushion in the 67th minute as Lacey pushed forward from the halfway line and exchanged passes with Adams before producing another great finish, turning a defender in the box before shooting home the fourth Green goal.

Lacey went close to a hat-trick on 74 minutes when Donaldson set him up for a shot that deflected off a defender and hit the post before rebounding back into Green’s arms. Rabstein produced another great save to tip a shot from Justin Leavers over the bar a minute later. The action continued to go from end-to-end as a pass from Lawrence found Donaldson, whose shot was grabbed out of the air by Green.

Ten minutes from time the visitors went close again as Riley hit a free kick just over the bar, and two minutes later a cross from Griffith found Ryan Inskip, but he headed straight at Rabstein. Leverstock needed another goal to ensure the points, and it came in the 83rd minute. Alex McCarthy’s pass found Lacey out wide, and Lacey went on a great run to the bye-line before squaring for Adams to shoot home the fifth goal from close range.

Even then the scoring was not over as Marsh scored for Biggleswade in the 90th minute to pull the score back to 5-3, but that was as far as it went as Leverstock were soon celebrating the win over their biggest scalp so far on their run of form.

Leverstock are back in action on Tuesday night with a home game against Hadley – the only team to have beaten them in the last ten games.

Leverstock Green continued their run of good form with an impressive 3-0 win over London Tigers in Saturday’s SSML Premier Division fixture at Pancake Lane. The margin of victory could have been greater with a number of good chances being missed, but three points and a clean sheet marked a very good return for the afternoon.

It was almost a dream start for Leverstock as they went close to opening the scoring with just a minute on the clock. A short kick from the Tigers keeper was returned back towards goal into the path of Matt Bateman, who was clean through, but hit his shot just over the bar. There was another near miss in the 8th minute as Alex Marsh dispossessed defender Naim Bashir near the right touchline and spotted that the keeper was off his line, but Marsh’s lob landed just wide of the goal. It had been mostly one-way traffic for the opening ten minutes, but in the 12th minute the visitors gave notice of their threat when an overhead pass from Joel Ramos gave Sebastien Philogene a run at goal. Philogene got past Liam McCrohan, but skipper Shane Wood came across to sweep up the danger and clear the ball.

Leverstock got their deserved opening goal in the 15th minute. A fine pass from McCrohan put Ross Adams in behind the defence, and Adams produced a great finish from a narrow angle to beat the keeper and find the back of the net.

The Green side were playing some excellent passing football with man-of-the-match Alex McCarthy at the heart of it. In the 19th minute when Scott Bonner played the ball out of defence to Bateman, who ran on before squaring for David Lawrence, whose shot was saved by the keeper. There was another good move a minute later when Chris Gosling’s pass put Bateman away down the right, and Gosling continued his run to get on the end of Bateman’s eventual cross, but his shot went wide.

Leverstock were worth at least a two-goal lead and they added the second in the 23rd minute, a quick counter-attack from a corner that was unnecessarily given away. Brima Johnson’s pass from the edge of his own box found Bateman on the halfway line. A quick turn from Bateman gave him a half-yard start over the Tigers defence, and Bateman continued to hold off the chasing defenders all the way before shooting home confidently from the edge of the box.

Both Adams and Bateman hit shots over the bar as Leverstock continued to create chances over the rest of the half. The Tigers manager clearly wasn’t impressed with his side’s performance, and took the unusual step of making a double substitution five minutes before half time, with a further change being made at half time.

The changes didn’t make a huge difference to the Tigers side, as Leverstock’s lead looked in little danger during the second half. The only save that Green keeper Reuben Rabstein had to make was from a shot by Nicolae Breazu on 62 minutes.There should have been a third Leverstock goal four minutes later when Bateman squared to set up a great chance for Lawrence, but he put it just over the bar from ten yards out.

The third Green goal eventually arrived ten minutes from time. Bateman played a great pass to put Adams through on goal, but the keeper came off his line to tackle Adams on the edge of the box. The loose ball was gobbled up by Jonathan Lacey, who passed the ball into the empty net for the goal that made absolutely sure of the points.

The result moves Leverstock up to 12th in the table. Since gaining no points from their opening four games, the Green side has won 5, drawn 2 and lost 1 of the next eight games and will look to continue their form next Saturday when they travel to St Margaretsbury.

With Leverstock Green leading 3-0 at half time against a team reduced to ten men and with a makeshift keeper in goal, their supporters might have thought that a comfortable three points was on the cards. However, things are rarely done the easy way at Pancake Lane, and a spirited fightback by Hoddesdon Town left the Green side hanging on for an eventual 3-2 win.

There were a few changes in the Leverstock side tonight, including welcome returns from injury for both Zak Howells and Alex Marsh, both having been out since early August.

Hoddesdon were on top in the early part of the game, although there wasn’t a meaningful effort on goal by either side until Leigh Rose hit a rasping long-range shot just over the bar in the 18th minute for the visitors. However, it was Leverstock who opened the scoring four minutes later from their first serious attack. A great pass from Chris Marsh put David Lawrence through on goal, and Lawrence finished confidently, shooting past keeper Damien Farrow who got a hand to the shot, but couldn’t keep it out.

Two goals in little over a minute put Leverstock in control of the game. Firstly in the 37th minute Brima Johnson played a crossfield ball to Lawrence, who was nearly forty yards out from goal but hit a screamer of a shot that flew past Farrow for a 2-0 lead. Then, almost from the restart, a good passing move ended with Johnson playing another great pass which found Matt Bateman in the box, and Bateman controlled the ball before hitting a low shot past Farrow for the third goal.

An incident in first half stoppage time saw the game threaten to boil over. Bateman was fouled near the halfway line, and as he was on the ground, one or maybe two Hoddesdon players appeared to stamp on Bateman as they went past. This led to a brawl involving players from both sides. The referee showed a straight red card to Leigh Rose, who claimed to have done nothing, and this led to further confrontation as the Hoddesdon management team came out to get involved in an argument with the referee and the Leverstock management team. Hoddesdon manager Paul Halsey was sent from the dugout, before the referee finally restored order and completed the half.

Hoddesdon had to replace keeper Farrow due to illness at half time, with centre-half Louis Bowen taking over in goal. Bowen wasn’t tested in the early part of the half as the Leverstock side seemed content to hang onto their lead rather than seeking to increase it. The lead started to look somewhat fragile when Hoddesdon pulled a goal back in the 62nd minute, as the powerful forward Frazer John burst through the middle of the Green defence to shoot home. Four minutes later the unlikely comeback was definitely on as Hoddesdon pulled another goal back. A free kick into the box wasn’t cleared, and John pounced to volley home his second goal and reduce the deficit to 3-2.

From looking comfortable a few minutes earlier, the Leverstock side was now looking panicked and was giving the ball away far too often, allowing Hoddesdon to push forward with pace. Chris Gosling came close to restoring a two-goal cushion with eight minutes remaining, but his shot was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Bowen, who also pulled off several good saves with his legs in the closing minutes.

Hoddesdon had three up front for the last five minutes, and only a great block denied John from completing his hat-trick and levelling the scores in the last minute. Eventually the Leverstock side got hold of the ball and were able to take it into the corners to run down the clock, and they held out for an impressive three points against a side in the current top six.

Next up for Leverstock is a tough visit to unbeaten Welwyn Garden City on Saturday – the first of two trips to Herns Lane within five days.

Leverstock Green moved up a further three places in the SSML Premier Division as they registered their third league win in a row on Tuesday night. They dominated the game against Tring Athletic throughout, but a late goal for Tring made for a more nervy finish than it should have been.

There was another new signing in the Leverstock side this evening, as left-back Chinua Cole made his debut. The 23-year old has an impressive CV and has previously been with Torquay United, Hampton & Richmond and Eastleigh this season.

Leverstock were looking the better side from the start, and they almost went in front in the 9th minute when Chris Marsh got on the end of a cross from Ross Adams with a header that brought a good save out of Tring keeper Jack Hopwood. However, from the resulting corner Marsh curled the ball into the six-yard box where skipper Shane Wood came diving in with a bullet header to put his side 1-0 up.

Marsh delivered another great cross from a free kick in the 21st minute which found David Lawrence, but his effort deflected wide off a defender. A minute later there was another free kick and another great delivery from Marsh which just eluded Wood as he dived in at the far post. In the 30th minute a pass from Cole put Matt Bateman through on goal, but his shot went across goal and wide. Three minutes later Marsh curled a free kick just wide, and in the 40th minute Marsh played a superb pass to put Adams through, but as Adams tried to take the ball round Hopwood, the keeper snatched the ball from his feet. Tring produced little in the first half, with only a shot from former Green striker Chris Blunden bringing a save out of Reuben Rabstein in the 31st minute.

The second half continued with Leverstock on top. In the 48th minute Marsh robbed a defender and ran at goal, but elected to lay off to Lawrence rather than shoot, and Lawrence’s attempted pass to Bateman went behind the striker. There was a let-off for Leverstock on the hour as Tring went close from a free kick. Chris Vardy’s header hit the post, and as the ball rebounded back across goal Rabstein reacted quickest to clear it. Leverstock added a deserved second goal in the 65th minute, and it was a well-worked move. Luke Nugent’s pass released Bateman to run towards the bye-line, and his low cross into the six-yard box found Chris Gosling arriving to sidefoot home his first goal for the club.

Tring went close with a couple of efforts with 15 minutes remaining, but a revival looked unlikely until three minutes from time when a free kick wasn’t cleared and Blunden slid in to score from close range and reduce the arrears to 2-1. There were now signs of panic in the Green defence, and they almost conceded an equaliser in the first minute of stoppage time when Rabstein flapped at a cross, and two Tring players somehow failed to convert the loose ball with the goal at their mercy. However, Leverstock eventually got the ball back and took it into the corners to play out time, and held out for the win.

There is no game for the Green side this Saturday, but next Wednesday night they travel to Hadley for a league match.