Leverstock Green suffered a heavy defeat in Saturday’s SSML Premier Division trip to Newport Pagnell Town. While the margin of victory may have been a little flattering to the home side, there is no doubt that they fully deserved the three points.

The Green side made a bright enough start to the game, withe Ollie Cox shooting over the bar after a run from his own half in the 8th minute. However, in the 11th minute, a combination of two defensive errors led to Pagnell forward Jim Burnside receiving the ball all alone in front of goal, and Burnside calmly slotted the ball past Carl Tasker for one of the easiest goals he will ever score.

On 19 minutes Tasker came off his line to deny Sean Soetan, who had been put through by a pass from Sam Olawale. However, on 38 minutes Soetan found the net with an angled shot from long-distance into the corner of the net. Leverstock were already in trouble, and it became worse as they conceded a third goal before half time, with Soetan shooting home his second from the edge of the box.

Early in the second half Cox went close with an effort that hit the bar, and Frankie Jowle had a goal ruled out for offside midway through the second half. However, Leverstock never looked likely to get back into the game, and on 61 minutes Burnside took advantage of more unsure defending to add his second goal in the 61st minute, making the score 4-0.

John Smith came closest to netting a consolation goal, hitting a shot that brought a good save out of the home keeper on 82 minutes, but Burnside was not finished yet, completing his hat-trick and adding his fourth in the 85th and 88th minutes respectively to leave a final score of 6-0.