Development Team Take Points At Holmer Green

As usual there was a change in squad personnel and numbers were down on previous weeks, in addition, at least two players were beginning their return from long periods of inactivity.

A fierce wind blew over the home pitch before kick off and as the game progressed it became even stronger and more erratic in pattern, making some passages of play difficult for both teams.

Despite this however, Leighton were fortunate to be blessed with two quality centre halves in Carl Harrison and Josh Peacock who got their defensive positioning spot on and this rewarded the visitors with early dominance.

Probing attacks by the home team were dealt with by the well organised defence and this enabled the visitors to get on the front foot with some slick passing and movement up front.

Initial Leighton pressure was quickly rewarded by Harry Ryan converting a far post opportunity after the ball had ricocheted around the home teams box.

Despite securing the early lead, Leighton immediately went back on the attack and the excellent Adwale Odutolu turned his marker inside out to surge goal wards and score with a clinical strike pass the keeper.

The first half continued with Leighton launching numerous attacks in search of the goal that might have clinched the result before half time.

Some of the attacking play on view was extremely impressive and at times the home defence struggled to keep Leighton at bay, occasionally the final pass was misplaced or on others a last ditch tackle saved the day.

The interval arrived with the visitors keeping their 2 goal advantage and feeling a little frustrated that they had not scored at least a third.

Running out for the second half it became clear that the weather conditions had worsened, for this reason alone, it made the next goal crucial.

Early after the restart it was scored and it was Leighton that grabbed it, Adwale Odutolu snapping up a chance laid on for him by good attacking play down the right.

This was now a challenging match situation for the home team and it is to their credit that they found the resolve to respond in a positive fashion, in fact, they started to push Leighton back and there was a change in momentum.
During this time, George Zammit , the Leighton keeper excelled with his handling and kicking and also flew to his right to flick a free kick round his post.

Towards the end of the match, the superb Charlie Green decided it was time to get Leighton moving forward again, winning yet another midfield tackle he surprised everyone by sprinting into the opposition box and hitting a shot into the bottom corner.

Shortly after this goal the match ended, the final whistle leaving a convincing score line and a clean sheet for the visitors.

George Zammit Charlie Davis Josh Peacock Carl Harrison
Nick Walton Ude Osmin Kuda Butawo Harry Ryan
George Tippite Adwale Odutolu Joe Korge George Armstrong
Charlie Green

Report by

Gary Mander