Rowley Lane

Rowley Lane Sports Ground
Rowley Lane
Barnet
Hertfordshire
EN5 3HW

(A) London Lions

It was a third straight league defeat for Leverstock in a game that exploded into life in the closing minutes having been largely uneventful up until then.

London Lions are in their first season at Step 4 having followed Leverstock up from the SSML via the play-off route, and they are doing remarkably well at this level. Leverstock had three new players in their line-up today, with goalkeeper Ashton Broome-Alexander, signed from AFC Welwyn, alongside the recently-signed Olesegun Adedipe and Callum Donnelly.

There was little goalmouth action in the early stages of the match, and Leverstock suffered a blow when Nat Connolly had to leave the game injured in the 26th minute after being on the wrong end of a poor tackle, to be replaced by Marcus Warren. The home side took the lead in the 37th minute when Jack Mattey got in behind the Leverstock defence to put the ball across the face of goal, where Solomon Jacobs finished from close range. Leverstock went close to an equaliser three minutes later when Iker Noguera Leon set up Warren for a shot, but it was well saved by home keeper Nathan Bloohn.

There was another good chance for Leverstock in the fourth minute of the second half, as Bloohn could only weakly punch a corner away, but Tommy Boxer’s effort from the loose ball went wide. Other than that, it looked more likely that London Lions would increase their lead, with Broome-Alexander pulling off some good saves to keep his side in the game. However, in the 76th minute the second goal arrived as Adam Burchell shot home from the rebound after Broome-Alexander had saved a shot.

The game looked to be heading for a tame conclusion, but in the 87th minute both sides were reduced to ten men. Callum Donnelly had only been on the field eight minutes when he went into a reckless challenge on Jake Rinsler, whose retaliation led to players from both sides being involved in a melee. Both Rinsler, who had only been on the field five minutes, and Donnelly were shown straight red cards.

Two minutes into stoppage time an unlikely comeback became possible as Leverstock pulled a goal back. A ball over the top put Jeffrey Sekyere through on goal, and although Bloohn got a hand to Sekyere’s shot, the ball still trickled into the net. Four minutes later Leverstock were awarded a free kick, and brought everyone except Broome-Alexander forward. However, the home side cleared it, and Max Davis broke away to take the ball round Broome-Alexander and finish into an empty net to make it 3-1. There was still drama to come, as Aldo Petagine pulled another goal back for Leverstock with a superb strike into the top corner in the eighth minute of stoppage time, but with the referee blowing for time immediately after the restart, there was no time to find an equaliser.

London Lions (1) 3 (Jacobs 37, Burchell 76, Davis 90+6)
1. Nathan Bloohn,2. Joshua Shack, 3. Adam Lipman, 4. John Levy (16. Yoav Sade 57 mins), 5. James Cohen, 6. Ben Bellman, 7. Jack Mattey (17. Oscar Wagner 84 mins), 8. Ben Barnett (12. Jake Rinsler 82 mins), 9. Zan Appleson-Fidler (15. Zak Jackson 64 mins), 10. Max Davis, 11. Solomon Jacobs (14. Adam Burchell 73 mins).
Leverstock Green (0) 2 (Sekyere 90+2, Petagine 90+8)
1. Ashton Broome-Alexander, 2. Olusegun Adedipe (12. Callum Donnelly 79 mins), 3. Freddie Newing (14. Aldo Petagine 76 mins), 4. Dan Pett, 18. Tommy Boxer, 6. Ryan Carruthers, 7. Joe McCarthy, 8. Nat Connolly (15. Marcus Warren 26 mins), 9. Jeffrey Sekyere, 10. George Mitchell-Gears, 11. Iker Noguera Leon (19. Jack Allen 80 mins). Sub not used: 13. Harry Way.

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(A) London Lions Development

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(A) London Lions Development

Leverstock Green Reserves suffered their third league defeat of the season in Saturday’s visit to London Lions Development in the Herts Senior County League Premier Division. Two goals in the second half by Franklin Hyman won the game for the home side.

Harry Maloret
Kaashan Darr
Freddie Newing
Alfie Herd 🟨
Bobby O’Flynn
George McCluskey
Charlie Clarke
Joe Dalli
Aryan Bashashdoust
Callum Moore
Rodger Siluba

Michael Adriano 🟢 (for Bashashdoust)
Thomas Long
Ronnie Brennan 🟢 (for Newing)
Ben Martin 🟢 (for Siluba)
Joe Dymock 🟢 (for Dalli)

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(A) London Lions Development

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(A) London Lions

Leverstock Green FC extended their winning run to four games as they came out on top in an entertaining seven-goal thriller at the Maccabi London Sports Ground on Wednesday night. Given that both Leverstock and London Lions have been involved in several high-scoring games this season, plenty of goals were expected here tonight and so it proved.

Leverstock looked lively from the start with Jayden Newman having a run at goal in the 3rd minute, but his shot from a narrow angle was saved by home keeper Nathan Bloohn. At the other end in the 6th minute Josh Bowler had to make a good save to keep out a shot from Felix Shalom. In the 11th minute a great crossfield ball from Luke Beckwith put Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica through on goal, but before he could get his shot away a defender got back to put in a strong challenge which brought some shouts for a penalty, but nothing from the referee.

Two minutes later a chipped pass down the left from Dan Weeks was missed by a defender, allowing Stefanoaica to run clear of the defence before delivering a square ball into the six-yard box which found Jayden Newman to shoot Leverstock into a 1-0 lead. However, the game was end-to-end, and in the 24th minute London Lions equalised as Max Kyte lashed home a shot from inside the box into the roof of the net.

Three minutes later Leverstock were back in front. Bloohn did well to keep out a shot from Newman, and seconds later kept out a close range effort from Stefanoaica, but Leverstock’s top scorer got the ball back and ran across the edge of the six-yard box before turning and firing home a superb shot from a narrow angle.

Stefanoaica could have added a third in the 30th minute but was again denied by a point-blank save from Bloohn. Leverstock were still in front going into first half stoppage time, but could not hold onto their lead. In the second minute of stoppage time a pass from Daniel Creese sliced open the Green defence and put Kyte in to shoot home his second equaliser. Further into stoppage time Leverstock Green FC lost Stefanoaica to what looked like a hamstring injury, with Ethan Mooney coming on in his place.

Leverstock Green FC went in front for a third time in the 54th minute. Rio Beach picked up the ball outside the box, and looked ready to shoot with his left foot, but instead cut back onto his right foot and hit a shot which took a deflection and beat Bloohn into the bottom corner of the net for a 3-2 Leverstock lead.

London Lions continued to play their passing game, but were finding it hard to get past a disciplined Leverstock defence. With ten minutes to play Morgan Grout, who had made his debut for the Development team on Saturday, came off the bench to make his first team debut. Less than two minutes had passed before Grout added his name to the scoresheet. Beckwith’s pass found him on the edge of the box, and Grout hit a superb sidefooted shot past Bloohn to make it 4-2 to Leverstock.

The game looked won, but there was still more drama to come in a lengthy period of stoppage time. Six minutes of added time had been played when a corner dropped for substitute Jack Mordecai at the far post to volley home a goal to pull it back to 4-3. That could have made for yet another tense finish, but fortunately the referee blew for time seconds after the restart to signal another Leverstock Green FC win, which takes them level on points with the teams in second and third place within the SSML Premier Division, but with a vastly inferior goal difference.

London Lions FC (2) 3 (Kyte 24, 45+2, Mordecai 90+6)
1. Nathan Bloohn, 2. Adam Lipman, 3. Barr Slagter, 4. Adam Arnold, 5. Adam Lee, 6. Benji Weinberger, 7. Daniel Creese, 8. Zak Jackson, 9. Max Kyte, 10. Austin Lipman, 11. Felix Shalom. Subs (used): 12. Ezra Aron, 14. Mikey Perkins, 15. Jack Mordecai, 17. Oscar Wagner. (not used) 16. Yoav Wynne.
Leverstock Green FC (2) 4 (Newman 13, Stefanoaica 27, Beach 54, Grout 82)
1. Josh Bowler, 18. Callum Neal, 3. Rio Beach, 4. Dan Weeks, 6. Danny May, 2. Joe Sadler (12. Ademide Baruwa 60 mins), 7. Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica (16. Ethan Mooney 45+5 mins), 8. Dan Pett, 9. Jayden Newman (14. Morgan Grout 80 mins), 10. Nat Connolly, 11. Luke Beckwith (15. Mikey Havill-Tierney 90+1 mins). Sub not used: 17. Brad Robinson.

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(A) London Lions Development

Leverstock Green Development were involved in another goal-filled game on Saturday, scoring four times but losing 6-4 away to London Lions Development. They fought back from 2-0 down to level at 2-2, but the home side re-established their lead and went on to win the game depite two late goals from the Leverstock team.

Starting XI:
Jamie Donovan
Alfie Herd (subbed)
Toby Mandeville
Martin Kirov ⚽  (subbed)
Max Alexander
Harry Herbert
Luc Dischamps ⚽⚽
Connor McGinty (subbed)
Jamie McIntosh (subbed)
Callum Moore 🟨
Morgan Grout âš½

Substitutes:
Alex King (used)
Schilo Kanda (used)
Stephen Norris (used)
Kunashe Sithole (used)
Harry Maloret

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(A) London Lions

Leverstock Green played their final group match in the Gladwish/SSML Spring Cup on Saturday, knowing that they were already eliminated from the competition. It was a depleted squad which faced already-qualified London Lions, and the Division One side dominated the match for long periods, although they had to wait until the last quarter of the match to find the net. The strong wind didn’t help to make the game any more of a spectacle.

Adi Connolly produced his first good save of the match in the 11th minute, turning a long-range shot from Austin Lipman onto the bar, and an effort from the rebound went over the bar. Frank Jowle had Leverstock’s first shot in the 15th minute, which was comfortably saved by the keeper. The home side had a goal disallowed for offside on 20 minutes, while Ollie Lawford had an attempt from a free kick 30 yards out just before half time that went just wide.

London Lions continued to have most of the possession in the second half, and they finally broke through the Leverstock defence in the 70th minute with a neat passing move, Max Kyte playing a one-two before shooting home from the edge of the box. Connolly denied the home side a second goal in the 77th minute when he turned a shot from Adam Arnold round the post, but the second goal arrived two minutes later when Ethan Mooney turned inside the box and slotted a shot past Connolly. Micky Perkins added the third goal in the third minute of stoppage time with a glancing header from a corner.

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