Leverstock Green collected a battling point against Cockfosters at the Lords Builders Merchants Stadium on Saturday. After a dubious red card left them with ten men for for over 70 minutes, the Green side dug in and defended well, and had the game’s two best chances. It was a third straight clean sheet for Leverstock in five days.

Leverstock were already without leading scorer Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica, who was serving a one-game suspension after his red card at Real Bedford last Saturday. In the opening minutes of the game Dan Pett appeared to receive an elbow from Harrison Rookard in full view of the referee, but he got nothing more than a talking to. However, in the 17th minute when Guiseppe Delgaudio reacted to provocation from Jay Lovell, who went down clutching his face, the referee showed a straight red card to reduce Leverstock to ten men in what was considered by everyone else in the ground as a very harsh decision.

In a game of few chances, Leverstock had a good one in the 24th minute when a pass from Pett put Luke Beckwith through, but he shot into the side netting from a narrow angle. Cockfosters were finally shown a yellow card in the 41st minute, although the wrong player received the card, and at the same time Josh Dooley was sent to the sin-bin to reduce Leverstock to nine men. Despite their numerical disadvantage, Leverstock came closest to scoring in first half stoppage time when Pett hit a superb shot which visiting keeper Tiernan Parker did well to turn round the post.

The second half saw Leverstock defending against the slope. Cockfosters had little to offer as an attacking threat other than long throws, and the Green side defended them well, with Ryan Carruthers in particular giving a man-of-the-match performance. A low shot from Ethan Rookard on 51 minutes brought a good save out of Liam Gauthier, but otherwise there was little danger of a goal at either end during the half.

Leverstock are still well-placed in third in the SSML Premier Division, and they face a tough trip to in-form Tring Athletic on Tuesday night.

Leverstock Green (0) 0
1. Liam Gauthier, 2. Callum Neal, 3. Rio Beach, 4. Paul Marks, 5. Josh Dooley, 6. Ryan Carruthers, 7. Luke Beckwith (14. Curtis Dibley 66 mins), 8. Dan Pett, 9. Guiseppe Delgaudio, 10. Nat Connolly (19. Scott McGleish 89 mins), 11. Ethan Mooney (12. Ademide Baruwa 74 mins). Subs not used: 15. Brad Robinson, 16. Mikey Havill-Tierney.
Cockfosters (0) 0
1. Tiernan Parker, 2. Kenny Nobrega, 3. Adam Reid (12. Eden Ntege 74 mins), 4. Matt Thomson, 5. Aiden Read, 6. Jay Lovell, 7. Ethan Rookard, 8. Chris Griffin (14. Jon Entwistle 68 mins), 9. Harrison Rookard, 10. Reece Barrett (15. Josh Grantham 65 mins), 11. Antonio Michael (13. George Lutaaya 61 mins). Sub not used: 16. Alfie Gleghorn.

 

Leverstock Green added another big three points to their tally with a comfortable 4-0 win over Aylesbury Vale Dynamos on Tuesday night. It was Aylesbury’s home game, but due to the continuing problems with their pitch, the game was switched to the Lords Builders Merchants Stadium.

As with Saturday’s game at Bedford, there was an early penalty shout for Leverstock as Rio Beach went down under a challenge in the box, but the referee waved away the appeals. However, Leverstock had much the better of the early play and soon made it count. In the 16th minute a slick passing move around the box ended with Guiseppe Delgaudio playing in Beach to slot the ball past the keeper and put Leverstock into a 1-0 lead.

There could have been a second goal five minutes later as Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica crossed to set up a chance for Delgaudio, but he hit it straight at the keeper. The second goal wasn’t long in arriving, though. In the 23rd minute a clearance down the middle from Aylesbury was headed straight back towards goal, and Delgaudio flicked on a pass to put Stefanoaica through on goal, and Stefanoaica skilfully sent a lob over the keeper to make it 2-0 to Leverstock.

It got even better for Leverstock in the 29th minute as Delgaudio picked up his third assist of the game, getting to the byeline to pull the ball across goal for Luke Beckwith to shoot home from close range for a 3-0 Leverstock lead. Two minutes before half time Delgaudio added his own name to the scoresheet. Ryan Carruthers cleared from the edge of his own box to find Delgaudio on the halfway line, and he did the rest, running towards goal to slot past the keeper and make it 4-0 to Leverstock before half time.

Having established a comfortable lead, Leverstock took their foot off the pedal somewhat in the second half, using the opportunity to give some players an early rest with Thursday’s Gladwish Challenge Trophy tie at Codicote in mind. Aylesbury had more possession in the second half, but were unable to create anything to trouble Leverstock keeper Liam Gauthier.

Ethan Mooney came closest to adding a fifth Leverstock goal, getting on the end of a cross from Stefanoaica at the far post in the 64th minute, but couldn’t divert the ball on target. The Leverstock side had to settle for the 4-0 win which further strengthens their bid for a promotion play-off place.

Aylesbury Vale Dynamos (0) 0
1.  Charlie Jones, 2. Aaron Pike (15. Callum Hall 37 mins), 3. Martin Lancaster, 4. Tyler Lawson, 5. Jordan Jenkins (14. Princewill Madu 68 mins), 6. Nathan Brownsword, 7. Abu Khan (12. Sean Duodu 68 mins), 8. Tommy Lethbridge (17. Fabian Garcia 37 mins), 9. Jake Baldwin, 10. Dave Brown (16. Abdullah Jellal 68 mins), 11. Alfie Anderson.
Leverstock Green (4) 4 (Beach 16, Stefanoaica 23, Beckwith 29, Delgaudio 43)
1. Liam Gauthier, 2. Callum Neal, 3. Rio Beach, 4. Josh Dooley, 5. Paul Marks, 6. Ryan Carruthers (14. Ashraf Masumbuko 73 mins), 7. Luke Beckwith (15. Ethan Mooney H/T), 8. Dan Pett (16. Dan Weeks 70 mins), 9. Guiseppe Delgaudio (12. Curtis Dibley 60 mins), 11. Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica. Sub not used: 19. Scott McGleish.