Alan Lee Reporting Leverstock Green 2 Tring Athletic 4

Leverstock Green exited the Herts Charity Shield at the first-round stage against a strong Tring Athletic side. It was a good pre-season workout for both sides. Leverstock were missing several key players and fielded a number of new signings against a Tring side featuring most of their marquee summer signings. The key portion of the match was midway through the first half, where Tring scored three goals in twelve minutes against a Leverstock defence that hadn’t played together before and had yet to properly gel. Despite being the middle of July, it was a cold and wet afternoon throughout with some tricky conditions.

Tring had the game’s first near miss in the 10th minute when Guiseppe Delgaudio hit a shot from the edge of the box just wide. However, it was Leverstock who scored the game’s opening goal in the 13th minute. Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica made a strong run into the box, and squared to set up Chris Blunden, who had the goal at his mercy and slotted a first-time shot past Eric Negraru in the Tring goal. Their lead barely lasted two minutes, as a back pass towards keeper Dan O’Brien came up short, and Max Hercules nipped in and slid the ball past O’Brien for the equaliser. Tring started to take control of the game, and in the 19th minute a through pass put Josh Chamberlain through on goal, and the former Berkhamsted forward made no mistake as he slotted the ball past O’Brien for a 2-1 Tring lead. Chamberlain was through again in the 21st minute, but this time his shot was saved by O’Brien. However, a third Tring goal arrived in the 27th minute as Dave O’Connor rose to head home a cross from close range.

The game wasn’t over yet, though, and five minutes later Leverstock were back in it. Joe Sadler’s pass found Blunden in the box, and Blunden turned and pulled away from a defender before squeezing home a shot which beat Negraru at his near post and pulled the score back to 3-2. There was almost a fourth Tring goal in the 40th minute but Delgaudio’s header hit the bar, and the game went into the break with Tring holding a slender 3-2 lead.

Conditions continued to be difficult in the second half, and there were few chances for both sides. In the 78th minute Leverstock had what looked like a golden opportunity as they were awarded a free kick just outside the penalty area. It was prime Blunden territory, and he pulled out another great effort which curled over the wall and was heading for the top corner until Negraru tipped it over the bar. There was another near miss in the 82nd minute when a shot from Rio Beach was parried away by Negraru and the rebound just eluded Blunden.

With Leverstock pushing everything forward in search of an equaliser, it was always likely that they would get caught out, and so it proved in the 84th minute when they were caught on the break from a corner and Harry Shepherd raced clear to steer a shot wide of O’Brien for a fourth Tring goal that sealed the tie. For Tring it was revenge for the St Mary’s Cup Final defeat at the end of last season, while for Leverstock it was a promising performance, with new signing Nat Connolly being named Man of the Match, and 16-year-old Joe Sadler, who has come up through the club’s EJA sides, also catching the eye. Leverstock Green (2) 2 (Blunden 13, 32)

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