Leighton Hammered by Local Rivals MK

After a tough previous week, losing to top of the league Amersham, Leighton were hoping to bounce back with a strong performance against local rivals and bottom half of the table Milton Keynes. Looking to start the game with high intensity, Leighton started well and moved the ball around to put pressure on the MK back line. A quick turn over in possession allowed MK to break free and score with their first attack of the game. From here Leighton struggled to build pace and momentum and although they were able to keep the ball, they were not able to do much with it. The handful of chances that Milton Keynes had were mopped up by the Leighton defence, but in attack, the Buzzards looked off their game. As the first half drew to a close Leighton were handed a life line. A well worked short corner saw Leighton skipper Jack Gorton thread a pass through three MK defenders to find Dave Fry running to the back post to deflect the ball onto an MK foot and into the goal.
With the scores level at the break Leighton started to mount their come back. However, this was quickly snubbed out as MK's aerial pass threat caused the Leighton back line endless problems. With each break down in attacking play by Leighton, MK stuck to their game plan. A long aerial pass found their attackers and they were soon back in the lead. And with the simplest of tactics Milton Keynes slowly pulled Leighton apart and gave themselves a four goal cushion. Leighton came close to getting back on the scoreline when Mark Stephenson beat his man at the top of the D and unleashed a shot that went wide of the target. Leighton's best chance from a short corner materialised when a poor injection was picked up by Tommi Lakins and after drawing in numerous defenders he released the ball to Nick Marshall on the base line, whose hit across the face of the goal found Fry's stick for the ball to be deflected up at the MK keeper to knock it round the post.
This defeat not only now puts Leighton back into fifth place, but hurts Leighton's pride after suffering their biggest defeat of the season to their biggest rivals. A small consolation the Buzzards can hold onto is that both Aylesbury and Newbury and Thatcham added defeats to their tallies as well to keep promotion hopes still alive.