Disappointment hits home for Leighton

With an impressive away win on Saturday at Hayes everyone had high hopes for the game against Daventry only to have their hopes dashed to see Leighton loose there first home game of the season.

Having the same starting line-up as Saturday Leighton looked strong before the game had even started. Daventry kicked off with Deaton winning the ball back within the first few seconds with a header in his own half only to find the ball land with the opposition a few minutes later when a corner was won, which Bewley cleared excellently before Daventry even had chance to put the ball in the net.

Daventry where an extremely fast paced team and Leighton struggled to keep up with them and this could be seen in the 4th minute when a run was made by Daventry through the defence, who believe him to be offside, only for him to shoot, but thankfully Dodge was there to prevent the score line from altering.

After this Leighton picked the pace up as much as they could and tried to get as many shots in as possible, only for some to be ruled offside and others falling short to the Daventry defence. The 8th minute proved nerve-wracking when Dodge mis-kicked the ball which fell straight to the opposition but thankful they were unable to score.

The 13th minute unfortunately saw the score line change when Daventrys' Neil King scored, with Leightons' defence defeated it was only a matter of time. The luck changed in the 14th minute though when Leighton won a free kick just outside the area, which was taken by Morgan who just put the ball wide of the post.

At this point it was clear that the referee was favouring the away team awarding free kicks, even when genuine tackles, where the ball was won were being frowned upon. With the ball being played mostly in Leightons half it was in the 25th minute that Jamie Gould took his chance for Daventry to score their second goal after beating Deaton down the left hand side.

The 35th minute brought back some hope for Leighton when some good passing took place between Bewley, Morgan, Hanley and Bishop who eventually found Simpson who headed home to make it 2-1. A chance came to make it 2-2 in the 39th minute when Toomey put in a long throw to Silvestri, only for him to swipe mid-air missing the ball which landed in front of the keeper, who fumbled before taking control.

Leighton kicked off the second half only to mis-place the ball but some good one on one tackling from Bewley on the last man meant that Leighton soon regained possession. Leighton started having communication problems with no one seemingly wanting the ball. However the 57th minute brought a second goal for Leighton when McBride used some nifty footwork at the half way line to find Bewley, crossing it to Simpson for him to get his second of the night.

Substitutions for Leighton were then made, only for Daventry to get their third of the night in the 73rd minute when Matt Gearing took advantage of Leightons poor marking to slot the ball home. In the 80th minute Daventry had the chance to make it 4-2 when a penalty was awarded by the assistant, but thankful Dodge was able to make the save keeping the score line at 3-2. The last kick of the match saw Leighton win a corner and if Simpson had got a head to it, he would have achieved not only a hat-trick but a draw for Leighton.

Overall Daventry looked like the better side, showing more pace and enthusiasm with Leighton trailing behind at every stage of the game. Leightons' next game is away to St Margaretsbury in the start of hopefully a successful FA Cup run, on Saturday 25th August. A coach is available with places costing £10, which will be leaving Bell Close at 12noon.

Team- Dodge, Toomey (65 McNulty), Bewley, Cunningham, Deaton, Bishop, McBride, Hanley (89 Maisiri), Simpson, Silvestri (73 Kimarni), Morgan

Subs- McNulty, Chaves, Maisiri, Hassan, Kimani

Attendance- 88

By Hannah Sellman