Leverstock Green got off the mark for the new season as Jonathan Lacey netted a penalty deep into stoppage time to rescue a point in a dramatic finish to Tuesday night’s game at Tring Athletic. A point was the least that the Green side deserved from an evenly-contested match in which both sides had numerous chances.

The first half was a somewhat scrappy affair, not helped by the Tring pitch being in desperate need of some rain. The home side went close in the 7th minute when Elliott Goward put the ball right across the face of the Green goal, but nobody got on the end of it. In the 14th minute a corner from Jonathan Lacey was met with a glancing header from Mark Smith that didn’t quite have enough on it to divert the ball inside the far post. The best effort of the half came in the 33rd minute when Lacey played a through ball to Alex Witham, who hit a ferocious shot but was unlucky to see it come back off the post.

The second half saw both sides raise their game. In the 56th minute Leverstock were almost gifted a goal when Carl Mensah cleared a cross from Witham and only just missed putting it into his own net. The resulting corner found Shane Wood at the far post, but his shot was blocked. Four minutes later a goal kick from Arvydas Kacinkevicius found Lacey down the right wing, running on to deliver a cross which Chris Blunden just failed to connect with. On 68 minutes Lacey headed just wide from a Tom Silford cross.

Sam Nair came off the bench in the 73rd minute, and came close to making the breakthrough within three minutes. A corner was cleared to the edge of the box where Nair met it with the sweetest of hooked volleys, but Tring keeper Marcus Richardson pulled off a brilliant flying save to turn it over the bar.

Tring then had a golden opportunity to take the lead with ten minutes remaining. Luke Dunstan ran with the ball from the halfway line and wasn’t challenged until he got into the box, where Shane Wood dived in with a rash tackle that gave the referee the easiest of penalty decisions. Ashton Campbell stepped up to take the kick, but slammed it against the underside of the bar, and the ball bounced down and away to safety.

However, a minute later Tring had a corner, and despite three efforts being cleared off the line in the resulting goalmouth scramble, eventually it was Campbell who made up for his penalty miss by forcing the ball home at the fourth attempt to put Tring into a 1-0 lead.

With a couple of minutes left, it looked as though Tring might have another penalty as Kacinkevicius clashed with a Tring forward in what looked like a 50-50 challenge just inside the box, but after consulting his assistant, the referee awarded a free kick to Leverstock. The game was then held up for five minutes while Shane Wood received treatment after a challenge in the Tring box. It was five minutes into stoppage time when Leverstock won a corner, and as the ball came over, Richardson clearly threw an elbow into the face of Elliott Dobbs. The referee spotted it and blew for a penalty. By the time the referee had dealt with sending the keeper off, and Tring had selected an outfield player to take his place in goal, it was seven minutes into stoppage time when Lacey finally stepped up to confidently net the penalty and level the scores at 1-1.

There were a further three minutes of stoppage time played in which both sides were trying to win the game rather than hang onto their point, but the game finished with a 1-1 scoreline. After defeat in their opening game it was a relief for Leverstock to get their first point and goal on the board, and they now turn their attention to the Emirates FA Cup, where they travel to the ground of Ashford Town (Middx) to face Southall in the Extra Preliminary Round. This game takes place on Sunday at 3pm, due to Ashford having a home game on the Saturday.

After losing their previous two games, Leverstock Green returned to winning ways as a dominant second half performance saw them come away from Tring Athletic with a 2-0 win in Saturday’s Dacorum derby.

The home side, playing down the Pendley slope in the first half, opened the game strongly and won a corner in the opening minute, from which Leverstock keeper Mackenzie Taylor had to make an excellent close-range save from a header. Leverstock’s first attack came in the 4th minute when a cross from Casey Linsell found Ross Adams in space inside the box, but Adams didn’t make proper contact with his shot. A minute later Reece Cameron had a run at goal but shot over the bar.

Tring continued to put on pressure and win corners, but the Green side created some chances on the break. In the 9th minute a pass from Chris Marsh put Linsell through, but his shot was turned round the post by Tring keeper Lewis Todd. In the 19th minute Adams got on the end of a cross from Marsh with a header that was saved by Todd. Four minutes later Leverstock had their nearest miss so far when Luke Nugent played in David Lawrence, whose shot was deflected inches wide of the post.

Taylor produced another good save in the 30th minute as he safely claimed a free kick from Sam Joliffe which took a deflection, but there was even better to come from the young Green keeper. On 37 minutes Taylor did brilliantly to tip over a shot from Chris Vardy, and two minutes later topped that with a close range save from a Mark Riddick diving header.

Three minutes before the break Leverstock had another promising attack as Linsell played the ball down the line to Nick Jackson, whose shot was turned wide by Todd, but the game went into the break goalless, a good outcome for a Leverstock side that had absorbed a lot of pressure in the half.

The second half was a different story as the Green attacked down the slope and were much the better side. There had been several promising forays forward before Leverstock took a deserved lead in the 61st minute. Reece Cameron played a great ball to put Jackson through on goal. Jackson’s effort was blocked by a defender, but David Lawrence was following in on the overlap and neatly slotted home from a narrow angle to open the scoring.

Chris Gosling brought another good save out of Todd four minutes later with a shot that was tipped over the bar. There was almost a second goal four minutes from time when Cameron made a run down the left touchline and played in the perfect square ball to find Luke Marsh, but Todd made another good save to turn the shot wide. The resulting corner was headed off the line by Jack Sunderland.

Tring rallied towards the end of the game and looked set to equalise two minutes from time when Dave O’Connor won the ball outside the box and had a clear run at goal but Taylor produced another brilliant save to turn his shot wide.

Lawrence could have had a second goal in the last minute when he was clean through, but Todd came off his line to produce another good block. Finally in the third minute of stoppage time a pass from Luke Marsh found Nick Jackson all alone and onside, and Jackson went on to take the ball round Todd before slotting into the empty net to seal the three points for Leverstock.

The man-of-the-match award unanimously went to Mackenzie Taylor, whose saves kept his side in the game during the first half and preserved their lead at the end. It was a second clean sheet in three days for Taylor, who played in the under-18s 5-0 win at Hemel Town on Thursday night.

Next up for the Green is a visit to Cockfosters on Tuesday night.