Northwood do the double over Leighton

Thankfully for Leighton last nights wind dried the pitch out to a standard that was suitable for play, however they didn't see the loss coming, not after such a strong performance in their last league game against Chalfont St Peter. A change to the starting line up was in order with Ryan Plowright out injured, Sam Chapman back after having made a full recovery and goal keeper Brad Kirkwood on holiday.

Leighton kicked off strongly for a change and straight away Gareth Chendlik tried his hand at goal only for his shot to be off target. With Northwoods' striker Dave Lawrence in goal this was a game where Leighton should have taken advantage of the situation, however they failed to do so. Jake Bewley, Shane Bush and Chendlik worked well as a three but to no avail.

Matt Griggs back in goal after a one game break showed he'd not lost his confidence, when in the 6th minute he embraced the game and cleared his lines. The 13th minute saw the first and not the last booking of the game and Bush was shown a yellow card for a sliding tackle on Northwoods' Steve Brown. Only minutes later the tables turned when it was Brown receiving a yellow for a foul on Jack Downes.

The 24th minute saw an open goal for Leighton when Lawrence was caught off balance, Downes managed to manoeuvre his way around the keeper but there was nobody in the box to put the ball in the net. Ben Gallant (although playing in midfield) did a great job defending, managing to keep Northwood at bay and converted the ball for a Leighton goal kick.

The 34th minute saw a scramble around the goal mouth, with Bewley trying to clear the ball that had unfortunately already found the back of the net from Karl Oliyides' kick, putting Northwood in the lead, 1-0. Chapman once again, as seen on many occasions now, took a man down in the box and awarded Northwood with a penalty, he also saw himself receive a yellow card.

Luck was not on Leightons side when the ball hit the bar from the penally spot and James Burgess managed to control the rebound perfectly, finding the back of the net making the score 2-0. 43 minutes in and Leighton finally managed to pull a goal back, when some good footwork was seen by Sean Bishop, Gallant and Chapman who put the ball into the net, slightly redeeming himself from his earlier mistake.

Leightons good mood didn't last for long when Oliyide made a run for it, although looking about 2 yards offside, gathered the ball and slotted it home, leaving the score at 3-1 into half time.

Enzo Silvestri replaced Chendlik at half time, but a fresh pair of legs didn't seem to do the trick. The 50th minutes saw yet another booking for Leighton with Warren Plowright being shown a yellow. Several chance fell for Leighton in the second half with Bewley hitting the bar in the 57th minute, Gallant and Bush constantly fighting their way through the oppositions' defence and Bishop trying to get his all important head on the ball to hit the back of the net, however there was just not enough enthusiasm to get another goal.

Kristian Stephens continually throughout the game made sensible decision when it came to defending and Grant Fryer was always one step ahead of the game managing to put the Northwood forwards out of sync. 77 minutes in and Leighton made their second a final substation bringing Craig Masiri on for Downes, this was very short lived as Maisiri was shown a red card only 3 minutes later for a tackle that looked perfectly innocent.

Once again the game started to heat up with a few harsh words being spoken between players and tackles becoming more challenging and this was seen in the 90th minute when Fryer and Oliyide were both shown a yellow card. Leightons last shot came in the 92nd minute when Bishop decided to go all out for the team but it came to nothing and the game ended 3-1 to Northwood.

By Hannah Sellman

Team lineup- Griggs, Fryer, Bewley, Stephens, Chapman, Bishop, Gallant, W. Plowright, Chendlik, Bush, Downes

Subs- Silvestri, Marsala, Maisiri

Attendance- 80