Leverstock Green and Oxhey Jets shared the points in a 1-1 draw at Pancake Lane on Tuesday night. It was a typical end-of-season affair between two mid-table clubs, and didn’t really get going until the second half.

The first half saw few chances at either end. In the 5th minute Curtis Donaldson chipped a great 50-yard pass to find Jonathan Lacey on the edge of the box, but Lacey couldn’t quite get the ball under control to get a shot away. Five minutes later at the other end, Sim Armstrong rose highest at a corner but his header was high and wide. In the 15th minute Danilson Vicente put over an excellent cross to the far post, but Shane Wood didn’t quite make proper contact with his header. Oxhey came closest to scoring in the 32nd minute when a long-range shot from Scott Pugsley hit the outside of the post.

Seven minutes into the second half a pass from Vicente put Lacey in on goal, but his shot was saved by keeper Rob Partington. Oxhey had another near miss on 56 minutes when a free kick floated into the box resulted in a goalmouth scramble in which Liam Jahn pulled off a point-blank save from Armstrong. However, from the resulting corner Armstrong came in with a powerful header to put the visitors into a 57th minute lead.

Pugsley hit the post for a second time with a shot in the 71st minute, and it had been Oxhey who had looked most likely to score for most of the half. However, Leverstock finally started playing some football, and a shot from Donaldson brought a save out of Partington not long before Leverstock created an equaliser in the 76th minute.Donaldson delivered a great cross from near the left touchline and Lacey got up to meet it with the faintest of flick headers that diverted the ball into the corner of the net.

From then on it was Leverstock who looked most likely to win the game, and they had two very good chances to do so. In the 86th minute a pass from Lacey found its way through to Vicente, who was clean through with only Partington to beat, but the keeper pulled off a great save. A minute later another dangerous cross from the left touchline found Lewis Davis six yards out but his header went over the bar.

In the end the draw was a fair result from a game in which the performance of the referee raised more talking points than much of the football on display., with neither side being happy at some of his key decisions. The points moves Leverstock back up into 11th place ahead of Crawley Green, and they have four games left to defend their top-half placing, starting with a home game against already-relegated FC Broxbourne Borough on Saturday.

Leverstock Green ended a run of six games without a win with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Biggleswade United in Saturday’s SSML Premier Division game at a warm and sunny Pancake Lane.

After a quiet opening to the game, Leverstock took the lead in the 14th minute. Jonathan Lacey blocked a clearance by the visitors and it fell into the path of Curtis Donaldson, who ran on to the edge of the penalty area and hit a superb shot into the top corner of the net for his 26th goal of the season.

Liam Jahn denied Biggleswade an equaliser three minutes later when he turned away a free kick from Gareth Hunt, however, the equaliser came in the 19th minute from a free kick further out by the right touchline. As the ball was floated in towards the far post, it was allowed to drop, and Simen Moller came in unchallenged to hit a low first time shot past Jahn to level the scores.

Four minutes later Moller looked to be through on goal, but Jahn came out of his area to chest the ball away, and an effort on the rebound landed wide of the goal. At the other end on 28 minutes a great pass from Lewis Bowers gave Lacey a run at goal, but his shot was tipped over by visiting keeper Robbie Ponting.

The scores were level at half time, and Biggleswade almost went in front in the opening minute of the second half, but a floated shot from Charlie Joy went just over the bar. Leverstock regained the lead in the 53rd minute when Donaldson was put away by a ball down the right and got to the bye-line, where he pulled it back for Danilson Vicente to slot home his first goal for two months.

Vicente had another attempt on 59 minutes with a volley from distance, but it was saved by Ponting, and seconds later Vicente and Lacey combined to set up a shot for Reynaldo Carbon which was deflected wide.

The remainder of the game saw few chances at either end. The visitors played the ball around well, but the Leverstock defence held firm until the end, and there was to be no repeat of Tuesday night’s late collapse. Nine minutes from time there was a first team debut for under-18 midfielder David Serinolli, making three players on the pitch along with Lacey and Luke Nugent who have stepped up from the under-18s this season.

Leverstock have five league games remaining, the first of them at home to Oxhey Jets on Tuesday night.

With 86 minutes played, Leverstock Green looked to be returning to winning ways as they comfortably led 3-0 against a ten man Stotfold side. Little more than six minutes later they were left with just one point as Stotfold pulled off an unlikely comeback. Stotfold’s point was not undeserved, as they had played well and missed a host of chances, but the manner in which the Leverstock side threw away their three-goal lead was very disappointing.

Stotfold could have taken the lead in the opening minute when an ill-advised throw-in put the Green defence under pressure, but Jake Long shot into the side netting from a good chance. At the other end in the 5th minute the visitors’ keeper Matt Fallon pulled off a good save to turn a header from Jonathan Lacey round the post after a great cross from Luke Preedy. From the resulting corner Brima Johnson, Danilson Vicente and Lacey all had efforts in a goalmouth scramble but none of them could put the ball away.

Stotfold had another great chance in the 9th minute when a pass through the middle put Daniel Bond clean through. Mark Berg stayed in his area, giving Bond the chance to send a lob over him, but the ball bounced just wide.

Leverstock took the lead in the 21st minute. A ball forward from Preedy just eluded Lacey, but defensive hesitation allowed Curtis Donaldson to pounce on the loose ball and burst clear. Donaldson could have taken it on himself, but instead chose to square for Lacey to slot home the opening goal.

There was another chance for Stotfold on 30 minutes when they won the ball near the corner flag, but the near-post header from the resulting cross was wide. Five minutes later they had a good shout for a penalty when Kendall Allen clearly handled in the box from a corner, but the referee didn’t see it.

Two minutes before the break a pass from Lewis Davis put Lacey through on goal, but he was brought down on the edge of the penalty area by a push from defender Karl Dean. After consulting his linesman, the referee awarded a free kick just outside the box, but showed a straight red to Dean for denying the goalscoring opportunity. It proved as good as a penalty though, as Donaldson blasted the free kick through the wall to send Leverstock into the break with a 2-0 lead.

Another Stotfold chance went begging on 52 minutes when Tom Oram had a free header from a corner, but put it over the bar. Leverstock were forced into a change on 56 minutes when Preedy limped off injured, to be replaced by Ben Darby, returning from a long injury lay-off. The game looked to be over when Leverstock scored their third goal in the 65th minute, a pass from Ross Adams putting Donaldson through to send a lob over Fallon which just found the net despite the attempts of a defender to slid in and clear it.

Leverstock made two further changes at the back midway through the half, although with all three subs having been used, both Darby and Davis were struggling with cramp towards the end of the game. The 3-0 lead was still intact when Stotfold won a corner in the 87th minute. Drew Cardines curled in an inswinger that Berg realised too late was heading for the top corner, and despite backpedalling he was unable to prevent the ball creeping in just under the angle for an unusual goal which, at this stage, still looked like just a consolation.

However, the Stotfold side sensed the chance for a comeback and upped their game, while the Leverstock defence had switched off. In the 89th minute Bond hit a shot which went just over the bar. In the first minute of stoppage time the Green defence was suicidally playing the ball around in their own half and gave it away, and a couple of passes later George Bates was shooting home a second Stotfold goal. Little over a minute later they pushed forward with pace again against a shellshocked Green defence and Cardines slotted home the equaliser. There was barely time to restart the game before the referee blew the final whistle on an extraordinary ending.

The result ended a run of three straight defeats for the Leverstock side, although it will feel like another defeat. It was the fourth time in the space of six weeks that Leverstock have failed to beat a side reduced to ten men for a significant portion of the game. Next up is a home game against Biggleswade United on Saturday.

 

 

Leverstock Green came away from Saturday’s home game against Colney Heath with nothing, and it was all they deserved from a performance that manager Scott Dash described as “not good enough”. For the second time in a matter of weeks, Leverstock ended up on the losing side against a team reduced to ten men for half the game.

The early stages of the game were very scrappy, with neither side able to get an effort on target. In the 12th minute a cross from Tremayne Charles went across the face of goal and just eluded Lewis Bowers at the far post, and in the 18th minute Jonathan Lacey shot over the bar. A minute later at the other end Jamie Eames shot just over the bar after beating Karl Thomas from a long goal kick. Two minutes later Luke Dolan had the closest effort of the game with a shot that dipped just over the bar.

Five minutes before half time Colney Heath were reduced to ten men when Lawrence Olorunfemi was shown a straight red card. The offence was a retaliatory kick at George Biggadike which was spotted by the linesman.

Leverstock were attacking down the slope with a man advantage in the second half, but the performance was no better than the first, with players holding onto the ball too long, poor passing and a lack of ideas. Colney Heath took the lead in the 56th minute somewhat out of the blue as Eames hit a shot along the ground from 25 yards which Liam Jahn seemed to have covered, but couldn’t keep out.

Colney keeper Charlie May made his first serious save of the game in the 64th minute, tipping over a shot from Luke Preedy, but it was only over the closing minutes that Leverstock began to look like scoring. On 83 minutes a pass from Danilson Vicente allowed Curtis Donaldson to take the ball round May, but he could only put it into the side netting from a narrow angle.Two minutes later Thomas crossed from deep and Charles connected with a looping header that was just over the bar. In the 4th minute of stoppage time Bowers came agonisingly close to an equaliser with a shot from 20 yards that hit the post and bounced out.

Further into stoppage time Leverstock themselves were reduced to ten men when Jack Watts was shown a red card for foul and abusive language, and Colney Heath held on for a win that they certainly deserved.

It was a particularly disappointing display coming on the back of excellent results at Hertford and Leighton, with the return of Brima Johnson being just about the only positive from the game. Next Saturday Leverstock face a visit to league leaders London Colney.