Leighton Buzzard 1s vs Henley 2s

Saturday saw Leighton Buzzard's 12 game unbeaten streak come to an end in dramatic fashion.

Leighton travelled to third place Henley knowing a win would put them four points clear of Henley and keep the pressure on league leaders Newbury and Thatcham. It was not the best start from the Buzzards and hosts Henley capitalised on this, finding an unmarked man in the D and slotting the ball past Mortgage Advice Bureau Man of the Match Alex White. This should have been a wake up call for the travelling Buzzards but not long after Henley were two up, slipping the ball past White from a tight angle. Henley continued to pile the pressure on the Leighton back four and if not for keeper White, they would have doubled their lead within the first twenty minutes. Leighton finally found their attacking flare with Tristan Hardy coming close on the back post but unable to get his tick on the ball. Tommi Lakins hit a well placed short corner shot onto a Henley foot on the line, but a questionable decision by the umpire awarded another short corner rather than the penalty stroke it should have been.

Leighton started the second half strongly with David Fry and Ash Barnet making some great attacking runs that Leighton were unable to turn into the goals they needed. A quick break from Henley saw them go three up with a deflected goal at the back post. Finally Leighton kicked into gear with Lakins receiving the ball on the penalty spot and slotting it down the centre of the goal. Once again Henley broke from their defence fast leaving Leighton Midfielder Nick Marshall no choice but to deliberately bring down the Henley forward. This resulted in a a straight yellow for Marshall and five minutes in the sin bin as well as a penalty stroke for the home side. Luckily for Leighton the Henley penalty taker took his flick too early and the decision was reversed in Leighton's favour. With the clock ticking Leighton pushed hard and Mark Stephenson was able to put Leighton back in the hunt with a well taken finish. In the dying seconds of the game Leighton tried to find an equaliser but unfortunately they had left it too late to take any points from this game.
Fortunately for the Buzzards league leaders Newbury drew with mid table Marlow, leaving Leighton one point from second and two from the top making the next couple of months very interesting for the title contenders.

Written by Nick Marshall