Leighton 1 - North Greenford 1

Leighton dropped two valuable points at home on Saturday when despite dominating the match throughout they allowed the visitors to score a late and undeserved equaliser which stunned both the Leighton team and their supporters.
Before the game the supporters and teams observed a minutes silence in memory of former Town player, Stan Tyas who sadly passed away last week.
Under their new management team of Craig Wells and Richard Batten, Leighton started well with a strong wind at their backs. Both teams struggled to cope with the wind in the early stages and any ball in the air was always going to be a lottery given the conditions. Leighton opened the scoring in the 11th minute when following a corner on the right Jake Bewley’s kick went across the goal and Ben Gallant had an easy chance from close range to put Town in the lead. Jake Bewley playing in a midfield role was causing the visitors all sorts of problems with his direct running and he showed his skills with the dead ball when Town won a free kick just outside the area in a central position. The young midfielder drove his shot past the wall but fractionally wide of the keepers right hand post. Bewley was also involved some time later when he drove over the bar after Ross hanley laid the ball back to him outside the area. A minute later Bewley went on a terrific 60 yard run that took him past 3 opponents down the Leighton right wing before crossing to Lewis McBride but his first time shot struck the bar before rebounding to Ross Hanley who shot a fraction over the visitors crossbar. Ross Hanley then drew a good save from Jallow in the visitors goal as Town kept the pressure on the visitors defence. Kicking against the wind in the second half Town still looked the better team but try as they might they could not score the crucial second goal they needed. Town’s hopes of scoring were diminished when Ben Gallant had to leave the field in the 70th minute to be replaced by Jack Copson. Two minutes after coming on, Copson tried his luck with a free kick about 25yards from goal but his curling effort despite having plenty of power was well saved by Jallow. In the 72nd minute a clever ball from Lewis McBride found Jake Bewley just inside the penalty area but with the youngster looking a likely scorer the keeper was quickly off his line to smother the ball at Bewley’s feet. In the 76th minute a good move down the town left saw a cross to the far post headed back into the middle but Leon Simpson could not find the space for a shot on goal. In the 84th minute Town had another good chance when Bewley pulled the ball back to Simpson but his shot was blocked and the ball kicked away. In injury time North Greenford created their first real chance when a ball through the defence required Lee Clark to dive and turn the ball around the post for a corner. Two minutes later the visitors fashioned a scrappy equaliser when Diston got his head to the ball and Lee Clark could only touch the ball onto the post before it rolled into the back of the net. It was hard to know who was most surprised by the goal, and not for the first time this season a late goal had cost Town valuable points and leaves them too close to the foot of the table for comfort.
Despite the late goal this was a decent performance by Leighton but lack of concentration cost them dearly. The Town defence looked solid apart from the goal and the midfield with Bewley looking lively on both flanks were well in control but the lack of a cutting edge in front of goal was to prove crucial yet again.