Battling Leverstock Green bag a vital victory over Hadley

The goal came in the eighth minute as a free-kick was floated into the Hadley box. The ball was knocked down and Alex McCarthy was first to the loose ball and shot home.

Leverstock’s only other sight of goal in the match came in the 15th minute when McCarthy won the ball in midfield and Ashley Addison threaded a pass to Dan Bourne, but the keeper was off his line quickly to save.

Despite the lack of chances this was a great backs-to-the-wall performance as the Green side kept their shape and their concentration, working hard to close down and get a foot in, thus reducing Hadley to little more than a handful of chances themselves.

In the third minute Liam Jahn pulled off a great save to turn away a long-range shot from Laste Dombaxe after a crossfield ball had been intercepted, and Jahn had to make a similar save on 40 minutes from a fierce drive by Nick Chrysanthou.

The second half was almost all Hadley, but again they found it difficult to create chances against the battling Green side.

The three points moves Leverstock eight points clear of the current bottom five; most of the sides having just six games left. Their next game is away to London Tigers on Saturday.