The Leopards to face Iwade in a rearranged League Cup fixture.

The visitors were without Josh & David, but Ollie came back into the squad. Benni then realised he had forgotten his boots.

The Leopards started well, controlling possession but not being able to find that final pass.

They were denied by the keeper when Zach slid a lovely through ball inside the full back putting Phillip in on goal, he cut in and pass across goal was cut out with Luke waiting for a tap in.

Then against the run of play, the hosts took the lead. Their winger dispossessed Brick on the left and advanced towards goal, Brick managed to nudge him off the ball as Ben recovered and won the ball, but the referee adjudged a foul. The penalty sent Tommy the other way to give the hosts a valuable lead.

The Leopards kept pressing forward and were denied by the keeper again as Ben found Paul in on goal, but his side foot effort was saved by the keeper.

Into the Second Half and the boys were encouraged to remain patient and keep moving the ball.

From the restart, the visitors came flying out of the blocks. Paul got free down the right, he pulled the ball back and Jack timed his run to perfection but couldn’t keep his effort down.

As the half wore on, the Leopards pushed forward and the back 3 of Brick, Peter & Joseph had to defend solidly to repel the Iwade counter attacks.

The Leopards then had another chance, Paul’s initial effort was saved, the rebound fell to Benni (who had borrowed Brick’s boots who had come off injured), his effort was blocked then Phillip had a further effort blocked!!! The ball would just not go in.

Then with just over 10 minutes left on the clock, the visitors finally pulled level. Ollie hit a delicious diagonal free kick into Phillip’s path on the box, his effort was (again) blocked by the keeper. The ball rebounded to Joe on the left hand side of the box. He took a touch then squeezed a shot past the onrushing defenders and inside the near post.

The Leopards now smelt blood and got their reward with 5 minutes to go, as Ollie found Joe in space on the left hand side of the box again, his low effort was destined for the far corner but was palmed away by the keeper into Phillip’s path who despatched the rebound.

Iwade then chucked everyone forward in search of an equaliser, but the Leopards stood firm. Peter acrobatically clearing a long range effort away from danger.

The visitors had a chance to extend their lead as Paul did superbly to hold the ball up and play Benni in on goal. His effort was again blocked by the keeper.

Coaches Player: Joe.

Coaches Thoughts
Ultimately we got the result by being patient and not trying to force the game.
There were lots of positives, but we lacked the final pass or the finish.
Let’s hope we can raise our performance for the coming league games.