Good effort but Leighton suffer another defeat

LEIGHTON Town returned from Ashford with nothing to show for their efforts after a good all round team performance as their on-field woes continued with a 3-1 defeat on Saturday.

After taking the lead early in the second half, Leighton nearly scored a second when a clever effort from Mark Burfoot struck the post, and if that had gone in maybe the away side would have captured all three points.

However, the home side hit back to snatch the victory, leaving Leighton with a 14th defeat from 23 Evo-Stik League Division One Central games, keeping them 18th in the table.

As is the norm these days, there were many changes to the Town line-up for the tough trip to Middlesex. Jack Pursey started at right back with Carl Harrison starting at left back as Bill Morgan returned after missing a few games in central defence, along with new signing Steve Howarth.

Danny Hutchins started in midfield with Jerry Nash, Kyal McNulty, Aidy Chaves and Jack Copson. Burfoot began as a lone striker.

Town started brightly and in the very first minute a good move saw them pose a threat to the home defence. They were more than a match for their opponents in midfield, but as was to be expected, the hosts carried more attacking threat without being able to break Town’s resistance thanks to some excellent defensive work by Howarth, Morgan and Sam Mazurek, ably assisted by their colleagues.

Ashford went close to opening the scoring several times, but Town rode their luck until just before the break as skipper Copson was harshly sent off for ‘kicking an opponent’.

It was the second time in a week that the midfielder had been shown a red card, having also been dismissed in Town’s 5-3 defeat to Aylesbury on New Year’s Day.

At this point Town could be very pleased with their display, but the loss of a player was bound to give them a more difficult challenge in the second half – they also had to replace Kyal McNulty with Craig Maisiri at the interval due to a muscle injury.

However, in the 48th minute Town won a corner on the right side and when the ball was driven across, Burfoot managed to get a touch to give Leighton a surprise lead.

Ten minutes later the Town striker drove a clever shot against the keeper’s left hand post and at this point Ashford were looking a little worried.

But the home side scored the all important second goal in the 62nd minute when after some desperate defending by Leighton the ball fell to Luckins on the edge of the penalty area and his left footed shot found the corner of the net.

Town were still defending well with only 10 men, but Ashford took the lead in the 68th minute from a corner. The ball was played in and hit Steve Howarth who could not stop it crossing the line.

With three minutes remaining the host confirmed that they would be winners when Quiassaca – who had originally been flagged for offside – was allowed to run on and after a moment of hesitation shot into the far corner. After a quick consultation with his assistant, the referee allowed the goal to stand.

Town can be proud of their display in an entertaining match against a decent Ashford side, and with 11 men on the park they might have achieved more.

Bill Morgan was superb at centre back and Steve Howarth gave him plenty of support.

Danny Hutchins is obviously short of match fitness, but his link up play with Jerry Nash in midfield looked very promising at times, while Mark Burfoot always made himself available for his team-mates and was desperately unlucky with his effort that struck the post.

Leighton Buzzard Observer