Leverstock Green 1 Tring Athletic 1

aet, Leverstock Green won 4-3 on penalties.

 

Leverstock Green progressed to the semi-finals of the Herts Charity Shield for the second successive season, but they had to go through extra-time and a nervy penalty shoot-out before finally getting the better of Tring Athletic. This was an open, entertaining game between two well-matched teams, neither of whom deserved to lose. Dale Sears was the hero of the night, scoring Green’s equaliser in normal time and the winning penalty.

 

Leverstock manager Mick Vipond took the opportunity to rotate his squad, giving a first start to recent signings Ryan Upton and Terry Chamberlin. Green had the first chance of the match on 12 minutes when Sears crossed and Lee Johnson headed just over the bar. Upton tried his luck from distance on 22 minutes but hit his shot over the bar, while Tring’s Peter Martin struck the bar with a shot four minutes later.

 

On 34 minutes Darren Caseman intercepted a pass and ran on to hit a shot across the face of goal and just wide, but it was Tring who broke the deadlock a minute before the break. Liam Meenan got on the end of a corner with a header which Paul Leslie tried to clear off the line, but only headed it down and back over the line.

 

In stoppage time Leverstock broke quickly and John Pedder’s pass put Upton in, but he shot into the side netting. However, it didn’t take long for Green to level the scores in the second half. On 52 minutes Upton went on a run and looked set to shoot himself, but instead laid off to Sears, who struck a tremendous shot from 20 yards which flew over the outstretched arm of Tring keeper Gary White and dipped under the bar.

 

Five minutes later Sears was denied by White. The rebound broke for Allan Arthur, but a defender dived in at the last second to block his shot. James Armstrong came off the bench on 73 minutes, and three minutes later had the ball in the net, only to be denied by a controversial offside decision. On 82 minutes Tring’s Chris Salmon headed just wide from a free kick, while at the other end Louis West twice got on the end of crosses from Leslie, but headed over the bar from the first and wide from the second. In the last minute of normal time a long punt forward from Tring put Ben Williams through, but he shot wide.

 

Extra time came and went with no further chances until the last minute when White had to parry away a shot from Mark Welling, so the match went to a penalty shoot-out. Tring’s Dave Whicker and Williams scored their opening two, while Arthur and Leslie replied for Green. Meenan then saw his kick saved by Mark Davidson, only for Armstrong to shank wide from Green’s third kick. Gary Nicholson and Upton took the score to 3-3 before John Perry hit Tring’s fifth over the bar. That left Sears to score Green’s fifth to win the shoot-out 4-3 and take his side through to a semi-final against Sun Postal Sports to be played in January.

 

Team: Davidson, Plaskett, Leslie, West, Johnson, Caseman (Boad), Sears, Chamberlin (Armstrong), Pedder (Welling), Upton, Arthur.