Hardworking Leighton just need some luck

Leightons' last meeting with Royston away was 26th February 2013 which saw them playing with 9 men and a loss of 8-0, thankfully today Craig Wells had a reasonable squad to choose from and Kristian Stephens was welcomed back into the team after returning from his work in the army.

Kick off saw Royston lose possession of the ball quickly and in order to try and win it back obstructed Shane Bush, who was making a run towards goal. Jake Bewley was the man for the job, taking the free kick, the ball found Dennis Fenemore who powered the ball in the right direction only to find Ryan Whartons' feet.

It looked like Royston were going to take an early lead in the 5th minute, when Ross Collins broke away from Grant Fryer and hit the bar. With Leighton being awarded numerous free kicks it was only a matter of time before Royston started wanting more from the referee, and an uproar took place 13 minutes in, when they thought they should have been awarded a penalty for hand ball.

Fenemore had another chance to do something with the ball but took it too far, not striking it quick enough, however Enzo Silvestri caught the ricochet but his shot was saved. 33 minutes in saw Royston play some good football with Wharton, Scott Bridges and Ryan Ingrey managing to play without any interception from Leighton.

Fryer was constantly managing to keep the ball at bay, heading the ball away from the goal at every opportunity, however on the stroke of half time Ingrey launched an unstoppable shot into the back of the net, putting Royston into the lead.

The second half saw Leighton make an early substitution when it became apparent that Bush was injured, Aiden Denton came on in his place.

Leightons' defence were caught off guard 54 minutes in and allowed Luke Robins to take a shot, but fortunately it didn't mount to anything. A Leighton corner in the 65th minute saw Denton curve the ball straight across the front of the goal and it only need a nudge to go over the line for Leighton to even the score.

Roystons' second goal came in the 73rd minute, when it looked like Matt Griggs had Kaan Fehmis' shot covered but the ball slipped past his hands and into the net, putting Royston 2-0 up. Another Leighton substitution due to injury was made when Fenemore was replaced with Dom Marsala.

George Lawton made a big mistake by miss kicking the ball which went straight out for a Leighton corner, Aiden Denton stepped up and the ball fell to Marsala, he managed to cross the ball to Silvestri who put the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net, putting Leighton back into the game.

Bilal Hassan made a break towards goal in the 79th minute, sandwiched between two of Roystons' defenders, he took a powerful shot at goal and it looked like it was going to be 2-2 but Lawton saved it brilliantly.

The first yellow card for Leighton was shown to Stephens who took Bridges down unintentionally.

Even though Leighton were losing they didn't give up the fight, they continued to play some great football. A smart move by Bewley found himself faced with Denton and Kieran Doughty wanting the ball and in the end they worked together to earn themselves a corner.

85 minutes saw Marsala battle his way towards goal and with no one to help him, he decided to take a shot at goal, Silvestri was there to meet the ball but unfortunately fell into Lawton instead and Silvestri ended up receiving a yellow card.

Injury time saw both Royston and Leighton battling to get another goal, Sean Bishop took a long shot at goal which didn't miss by much and it was end to end stuff when the ball fell to Robbie Mason who caught Griggs out of his goal and took a chance but luckily it was off target.

Leightons next game is at home to Aylesbury on Thursday 10th April, kick off 3pm.

By Hannah Sellman

Team lineup- Griggs, Downes, Bewley, Fryer, Stephens, Bishop, Doughty, Bush, Fenemore, Silvestri, Hassan

Subs- Denton, Marsala, Chendlik, Maisiri

Attendance- 156

Photographs from this game can be found on Roystons' website- please follow the link below

http://rtfc.smugmug.com/RoystonTownFC/Leighton-Town/38281898_RvV89v#!i=3162058303&k=6L6MFLB