Once again Leighton fail to keep the lead

With the sun shining and a slight breeze Beaconsfield kicked off the first half and within a few seconds Sean Bishop had mislaid the ball to Tom O'Regan who hit the outside of the post. Enzo Silvestri showed his experience with some good defending to keep Beaconsfield at bay.

There was some confusion between the referee and the linesman when one of them signalled for a corner and the other a goal kick, thankfully all was resolved quickly and a goal kick was awarded to Leighton.

Bilal Hassan struck the ball with some power in the 9th minute but unfortunately the ball went just wide of the post. 16 minutes in and Shane Bush and Silvestri played some good football and found Dom Marsala however the ball was just out of his reach.

Marsala and Hassan were in sync with each other throughout the game and in the space of 2 minutes they had 2 chances of scoring, the first failed and went straight into the keepers arms, but the second saw Hassan strike the ball firmly into the net, putting Leighton into the lead.

The 27th minute saw Craig Maisiri take the ball too far, running it straight out for a goal kick, when he had plenty of time to cross the ball. The first yellow cards of the match were shown to Jon-Jo Bates who head butted Grant Fryer, Fryer then also received one for retaliating and Silvestri who also got involved.

Leightons determination to get another goal before half time was obvious when Jake Bewley beat two players before being tackled, which won him a free kick. Another yellow card was seen in the 37th minute, when the ball went out for a Beaconsfield throw in after Griggs couldn't reach it, he was booked for trying to stop the opposition from taking a quick throw in.

Leighton kicked off the second half and there was some good defending especially from Stuart Deaton. Marsala had a chance to make it 2-0 for Leighton when James Reading, Beaconsfields' goal keeper, fumbled the ball in the air but then managed to gather it safely.

Beaconsfield put the ball into the back of the net in the 63rd minute only for the referee to thankfully blow his whistle after the linesman had flagged for offside. 68 minutes in and it looked like Beaconsfield were going to make up for the disallowed offside goal, when Shaun Ownes booted the ball at Matt Griggs but he managed to reach the ball at fall stretch and caught it securely.

Griggs continued to make yet another spectacular save when O'Regan fired the ball at him from close range. However a penalty given away by Warren Plowright 3 minutes later saw Beaconsfields' O'Regan make the score even.

With limited substitutes on the bench Leighton only made one substitution, which saw Silvestri removed to make way for Gareth Chendlik. Beaconsfields' second goal came when Ownes found a way past Plowright in the 86th minute to put them into the lead.

With Leighton looking tired O'Regan managed to slip past Leightons' defence in the 87th minute and score the 3rd goal for Beaconsfield. However Leighton managed to win themselves a penalty in injury time and Marsala stepped up to the spot, sent the keeper the wrong way and made the final score 3-2.

Leightons' next game is away to Royston Town FC on 5th April, kick off 3pm.

By Hannah Sellman

Team lineup- Griggs, Fryer, Bewley, Plowright, Deaton, Bishop, Hassan, Silvestri, Bush, Marsala, Maisiri

Subs- Chendlik, Bather, Wells

Attendance- 67