WE GET A SOAKING

Standing in the Leighton Town clubhouse and looking at the rain lashing down and the pools of water lying on the pitch it looked more like Armageddon was going to take place rather than a football match.

Amazingly the match official deemed that the pitch was playable, which was ridiculous because the ball did not move freely and passing was a lottery. Clearly it was the same for both sides but Leighton adapted far quicker than us and by the time we got our act together the game was out of our reach.

Manager Ian Richardson continued his rotation policy with Skipper Sam Joliffe, Max Hercules and Jack Sunderland (who had a fine game on Tuesday) on the bench. In addition we were missing keeper Lewis Todd and Tommy Twelves. With 10 more league games and a semi-final still to come Ian is obviously trying to keep the players as fresh as possible.

The game as a contest was over before the clock reached the half hour mark, because by then over a 16 minute period Leighton had scored three goals. After that it was about pride and keeping the score down.

Our hosts had already hit the post and forced Mark Richardson to tip a rasping follow up shot over when James Hatch latched onto a poor defensive header to thump the ball home after only 13 minutes. Goal number two followed 11 minutes later when Alex O'Brien's shot seemed to deceive our keeper. Five minutes later Leighton completed their burst of scoring when their new signing Ashley Fuller scored. Score 3-0.

Many of us where fearing the worse that with still an hour to play we would get a thumping but due credit to the players they dug in and started to play some good football which was not easy in those conditions and for the rest of the game we more than held our own.

A free kick from Chris Vardy was spilled by the keeper at the end of the first half and six minutes into the second period Vards shot into the side netting when well placed. We had a lucky escape when Mark Richardson produced a great save from a penalty in the 52nd minute.

We were desperately trying to get something out of the game especially Luke Dunstan who was outstanding and he came mighty close to converting a cross from Luke Little but the ball stuck in the goalmouth mud. On a normal surface the ball would have rolled in.

Mark Riddick couldn't get a decent connection to a George Carbery cross but with a minute of normal time left we finally got some deserved consolation with a well worked goal. Following a fine move Luke Dunstan superbly laid the ball off to Luke Little who fired an accurate shot across the keeper and into the far corner. It was a well taken goal by Luke who has settled in quickly and now has scored in two of his three games for us. FT Score 3-1.

A disappointing night but after a disastrous start Ian can take some solace from the response he got from his players and that we won the second half 1-0! The game was spoilt by the conditions and whilst Leighton will be pleased to have picked up 3 points and got another game out of the way they may not be so happy if the pitch is put out of action for a while.

Leighton remain 3rd in the table hot on the tail of Berkhamsted who have a 7 point advantage but have played 2 more games. If Leighton can win those games they can tussle for the runners up spot as Welwyn look to have the title sewn up unless they have a wobble, which judging by their form seems unlikely.

As we have Berkhamsted on Saturday (weather permitting) and Welwyn on 14th April perhaps we can do Leighton a favour. We remain in 15th place and have some crucial games coming up against fellow strugglers starting with a trip to Holmer Green on Tuesday next week.

The game ended on a sour note when it appeared that a Leighton defender duped the Referee is giving Luke Dunstan a second yellow card. Luke can play on the edge sometimes but on this occasion he did nothing, as a few of us standing nearby can testify, and we will now miss him for a game or two at a time when we most need him.

Teams:

LT:1 Tom Wyant 2 James Towell (15 Carl Resch 82) 3 Matt Hall 4 George Boland (14 Bruno Brito 72) 5 Tom Guiney (Capt) 6 Dave Murphy 7 Don Marsala 8 Alex O'Brien 9 James Hatch 10 Ashley Fuller 11 Lewis McBride (12 Carl Tappin 61). Subs not used: 16 Tom Bryant 17 Brad Kirkwood.

TA:1 Mark Richardson 2 Ben Johnson 3 Connor Church 4 Mark Riddick 5 James Butler (14 George Carbery 78) 6 Dave O'Connor 7 Steve Nott-Macaire 8 Luke Little 9 Chris Vardy (12 Jack Sunderland 67) 10 Luke Dunstan (Capt) 11 Joe Fitzgerald (15 Sam Joliffe 60). Sub not used: 16 Max Hercules

Scorers:

LT:James Hatch (13, Alex O'Brien (24), Ashley Fuller (29)

TA:Luke Little (89)

Crowd:113

LT Web: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/leightontown/teams/

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