Leighton’s Unbeaten Run Comes To An End
Leighton Town’s recent good run of form ended at the most unlikely of places on Saturday, as they were beaten 1-0 by second from bottom side Holmer Green, who themselves had lost 5-0 to the bottom side Crawley Green, last time out.
It was in truth, a disappointing, lacklustre performance by the ‘Reds’, as they fell further behind their promotion rivals at the top of the South Midlands Premier League.
Without a recognised striker available, manager Scott Reynolds had to reshuffle his pack, playing Silford as a central striker in place of the unavailable Hatch and the injured Smith. Percy and Mercer replaced the suspended Tappin and the unavailable Condon.
Town started well and in the early stages of the half were able to get in behind the Holmer Green defence on a number of occasions. The final ball however, was invariably disappointing and the home side goalkeeper was rarely threatened by the toothless Town attack.
Holmer Green took the lead on 20 minutes scoring from close range after a flowing counter attack that seemed to catch the Leighton rear-guard napping. Town were nearly two behind five minutes later when a curling free-kick from just outside the penalty area whisked just past the post with Wyant beaten.
As the half progressed Town seemed to run out of ideas and the home side became more and more comfortable, visibly growing in confidence and belief.
The second half followed the same pattern of the first with Leighton dominating possession without creating a clear cut chance of note. McKee and Ashley were introduced to provide some fresh impetus but Leighton never looked like scoring and seemed to be devoid of ideas on how to breach the resolute Holmer Green defence.
In the end Leighton could have no complaints about the score line. There was a worrying lack of pattern, passion and urgency in Town’s display that mirrored the games against other bottom three sides St Margaretsbury and Edgware Town earlier in the season. The 8 points dropped so far against such opposition would catapult Leighton into third place and just 3 points behind leaders Berkhamsted Town with games in hand.
Town travel to Stotfold on Tuesday, before taking the long trip to Gorleston on Saturday, for a third round FA Vase tie with a place in the last 32 at stake.
Match Report by
Sean Downey
