Leverstock Green travelled to their SSML Premier Division fixture at Risborough Rangers in good spirits, sitting in 7th place in the table after three straight wins, and with one of their strongest lineups of the season, but it ended up being something of a nightmare afternoon for the Green side. Two quick goals towards the end of the first half and another two at the start of the second half sealed their fate, but in truth they were rarely in the game against a strong side who may yet have a say in the promotion race.

The opening 15 minutes of the game were mostly played in the Leverstock half as the home side applied heavy pressure. In the 9th minute a shot from Wiktor Makowski brought a great save out of Austin Byfield, who then pulled off a double save from close range from the resulting corner. Byfield produced more heroics in the 20th minute as he parried away a cross from Ricky Miller, and then somehow got a hand to Rico Greco’s effort from the rebound and turned it onto the bar.

Leverstock’s first near miss came in the 34th minute as a free kick from Dan Pett went across the face of goal, just eluding both Dan Weeks and Bobby Armstrong who flung themselves at the ball. Just when it seemed as though Leverstock might get a foothold in the game, they conceded an unfortunate goal a minute later. A chip from Miller should have been kept out by Byfield, but the ball went through his hands and squirmed over the line despite Byfield’s efforts to scramble back and keep it out.

Two minutes later the lead was doubled from another unfortunate goal. A clearance from Weeks was blocked into the path of Makowski, who had the goal at his mercy and shot past Byfield into the corner of the net. Weeks felt he was fouled in the build-up to the goal, and his protests earned him a spell in the sin-bin.

Leverstock went close to pulling a goal back three minutes before the break as a cross from Chris Blunden found Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica at the near post, but his hooked effort went inches wide.

Weeks was still in the sin-bin for the opening two minutes of the second half, but Leverstock were back up to full strength by the time they conceded the third goal to a swift Risborough counter-attack in the 49th minute. Makowski was clean through on goal, and although Byfield did well to keep out Makowski’s shot, he could do nothing about the rebound as Rahman Ajibola followed up to score.

Leverstock were found wanting at the back again in the 54th minute as Makowski’s pace took him clear and his cross found Miller to score his second and Risborough’s fourth of the game.

The home side were needlessly reduced to ten men in the 58th minute as Greco was shown a straight red card for striking out at Ethan Mooney, whose reaction only earned him a yellow card. Leverstock didn’t win their first corner of the game until the 73rd minute, and Stefanoaica had an effort on goal, but it was blocked in the six-yard box.

A save from Byfield in the 75th minute prevented Miller from completing a hat-trick, but in the 81st minute Danny May was caught by the ball bobbling over his boot, and Jethro Odunosu was left to run clean through and slot past Byfield, marking the first time that Leverstock had conceded five goals in a league game during the reign of Fergus Moore.

The damage to Leverstock’s goal difference saw them drop below Cockfosters in the table despite both sides losing.

Risborough Rangers (2) 5 (Miller 35, 54, Makowski 37, Ajibola 49, Odunosu 81)
1. Connor Hunt, 2. Jamie Robinson (16. Harry Scott 85 mins), 3. James Dobson, 4. Ben Sturgess, 5. Joel Read, 6. Joe Fitzgerald, 7. Wiktor Makowsi (12. Alex Sethi 85 mins), 8. Asher Yearwood, 9. Ricky Miller (14. Liam Enver-Marum 79 mins), 10. Rahman Ajibola (15. Jethro Odunosu 69 mins), 11. Rico Greco. Sub not used: 17. Steve Tavender.
Leverstock Green (0) 0
1. Austin Byfield, 2. Danny May, 3. Rio Beach, 4. Dan Weeks, 18. Bobby Armstrong (19. Luke Durnin 56 mins), 6. Ryan Carruthers (12. Elgeniy Daalberg 64 mins), 7. Ethan Mooney, 8. Dan Pett, 9. Chris Blunden (16. John Shamalo 79 mins), 10. Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica, 11. Ibrahim Nagheeb. Subs not used: 14. Kurainashe Musanhi, 15. Adrian Pitfield.

For the second time in four days Leverstock Green were beaten by a side who went to the top of the league with their three points. The scoreline may suggest that Leverstock were well beaten, but that was certainly not the case. Fergus Moore’s side put in a strong and hard-working performance and were competitive throughout the game. Whatever the merits of the Leverstock performance, the only thing being talked about at the end of the game was the performance of the referee, which had a huge influence on how the game went.

The first twenty minutes of the game were played at a frantic pace with the ball going from end-to-end, although with little goalmouth action. The first near miss came in the 22nd minute when Risborough’s Kieran Schmidt hit the post with a shot. However, two minutes later it was Leverstock that opened the scoring. There seemed little danger as a defender tried to shepherd the ball back to his keeper, but they ended up leaving it to each other, allowing Elgeniy Daalberg to nip in and take the ball and run it into the empty net.

Five minutes later another mistake was almost punished as the keeper kicked the ball out straight to Kian Wilkes, who had an effort at the empty net from near the centre circle, but it went just over. As the game approached the break Leverstock were well worth their lead, but a series of poor decisions from the referee brought the game to a head. An altercation between Ollie Cox and the Risborough keeper resulted in Cox wrongly being sent to the sin-bin, then once Cox had retreated to the bench and further things were said, Cox was shown a red card.

That left the Green side down to ten men for the second half, which started with them still leading 1-0. Wilkes almost doubled the lead in the 54th minute as he intercepted a crossfield pass and ran through to hit a shot just wide. However, two minutes later the scores were level as Marcus Wylie went on a run towards the Green box and hit a low shot through a crowd of players that Alfie Bonfield could not stop.

The game started to boil over again in the 60th minute when the referee awarded Risborough a penalty for handball when the ball had clearly been headed away. Wylie netted the spot kick to put Risborough 2-1 up. The ensuing protests resulted in Leverstock being temporarily reduced to nine men with Dan Weeks sent to the sin-bin.

If the first penalty decision wasn’t bad enough, there was a second penalty awarded to Risborough in the 66th minute for an absurd theatrical fall, but all it needed was for one of their players to shout for the penalty, and it was duly given. However, this time Bonfield produced a great save to keep the score at 2-1.

There was another incident in the 71st minute as a high boot from Risborough’s Aaron Jewel left Paul Marks with a head injury, and Jewel was shown a straight red card. At this stage it was 10 v 8 as Leverstock still had Weeks in the sin-bin and Marks having his head injury bandaged up, but both players returned to the pitch to make it 10 v 10. Dan Pett almost levelled the scores in the 77th minute as he was through on goal but the keeper produced a great save to keep his shot out.

The game had been closely-contested throughout, but two late goals gave the final score a lopsided look. Sean Coles capitalised on a mistake at the back to stab home a third goal in the 87th minute, and as Leverstock continued to chase the game they were caught out again at the back as Gavin James lobbed Bonfield in the 90th minute.

Risborough Rangers (0) 4 (Wylie 56, 60 pen, Coles 87, James 90)
Team: 1. Jack Brooker, 5. Josh Urquhart, 6. Alex Kedzierski, 8. Asher Yearwood, 9. Liam Enver-Marum (18. Gavin James 77 mins), 10. Marcus Wyllie (16. Lawrence Clark 89 mins), 11. Sean Coles, 12. Joshua Fox, 16. Ben Sturges, 17. Aaron Jewel, 19. Kieran Schmidt. Subs not used: 2. Bertie Squires-Adams, 3. Lewis Patrick, 7. Adam Morris.
Leverstock Green (1) 1 (Daalberg 24)
Team: 1. Alfie Bonfield, 2. Brad Robinson (12. Jack Allen 86 mins), 3. Rio Beach, 4. Dan Weeks, 5. Paul Marks, 6. Kian Wilkes, 7. Elgeniy Daalberg, 8. Dan Pett (14. Ryan Carruthers 90+1 mins), 9. Rawn Seale, 10. Ollie Cox, 11. Paplamin Jawara (17. Sean Walsh 90+1 mins). Subs not used: 16. Scott McGleish, 18. Fergus Moore.