Leighton Town 1 - Chalfont St Peter 3

Leighton’s run of poor results at home continued on Saturday when they lost to Chalfont St. Peter after leading 1-0 at half time. To be fair to Town they were without several regulars and they were also forced to make positional changes that did not work well on the day.
Manager, Sean Downey was without Stuart Deaton, Jake Bewley and Ross Hanley for the game and Andre Maltay switched to left back with Grant Fryer taking over on the right after missing last week’s game. Charlie Cunningham was moved from a midfield role to fill in alongside Sam Chapman in central defence.
Town started the game well and in the 5th minute a low cross went right across the face of the Chalfont goal without a Leighton player getting a touch. Chalfont replied with a good move down their right flank and won a corner but Town managed to get the ball away without any problems. Town continued to force the pace and in the 13th minute Ben gallant’s low shot from the dge of the box was deflected for a corner kick, which the visitors defended easily enough. In the 20th minute Chalfont won a free kick which caused all sorts of problems for the Town defence until they eventually scrambled it away. Grant Fryer then made a good block to divert the ball for a corner during another Chalfont attack. Town went ahead in the 29th minute after Bilal Hassan crossed the ball from the right and it went right across the goal to Jack Copson who fired in a low shot which Oliver partially saved , James Hatch reacted quickly and fired the loose ball into the back of the net.
Two minutes later the well positioned Lee Clark had to make a save from Lewis’ well struck shot.
In the 36th minute Chalfont had a chance to draw level but Hughes decided to go for glory and shot into the side net instead of pulling the ball$ back to waiting colleagues. A minute later Lee Clark made an easy save from Lewis’ 25yard effort.
In the 55th minute Chalfont drew level after they were awarded a free kick on their left touchline. Hughes’ inswinging kick needed the merest of touches from Lewis to level the scores as Town’s defence failed to deal with the free kick. Town were rocked by the equaliser and before they could get themselves reorganized they went behind after defensive hesitation allowed Louth to steal the ball and flick it past Lee Clark. Four minutes later the game looked to be lost for Town when the visitors were awarded a penalty for handball. Hughes strode up to take the kick but Lee Clark made a wonderful save, diving to his left to divert the ball for a corner kick. Town looked better after the save but Chalfont were awarded a free kick in the 76 minute and with Carroll and Hughes lining up to take the kick. Eventually Carroll strode forward and drove a low shot into the far corner of Lee Clark’s goal to wrap up the points. Nobody could argue that Chalfont deserved the win for their performance particularly in the second half and Town will need to step up to the plate next week in the FC CUP if they are to progress to the next round. Sean Downey will be hoping that Hanley and Deaton are available for the game as their experience was sadly missed in this match.
Team: Clark, Fryer, Maltay, Chapman, Cunningham, Bush, McBride, Hassan, Gallant, Hatch, Copson. Subs: 12. Lazarus (Copson 64), 14.McNulty.15:Ojuroye(Fryer 79), 16:Blackwell, GK –Ambler
Chalfont Reserves made it a good day for their Club when they beat Leighton Reserves 5-1 in the Suburban League at Chalfont.
Leighton’s Under 18 side did produce a winning performance on Thursday night when they won through to the next round of the FA Youth Cup with a terrific 1-0 win at Daventry Town. Harry Elliott was the Town’s scorer.