Leighton Town v Sun Sports                            1st April 2017                            SSMLP

Gary’s goal wins game against Leighton

In a scrappily contested match in Leighton Buzzard, Sun Sports came away from their first ever visit to Bell Close with all three points thanks to a solitary goal from centre back Gary Wallace.
Leighton came into this match three games undefeated and no goals conceded while the Sun had scored five and conceded six in their last two league matches.
Despite the team’s’ difference in form the match was expected to be a close one, however the Sun came to attack using a 4-3-3 formation and could have won the match by more goals.
It was Leighton Town who came out of the stocks the quickest and they had two close attempts in the opening minutes.
Clement Asante had the first chance for the Sun but his shot was blocked by the legs of Town’s keeper.
As confidence grew the Sun moved forward and Karl Penny found the room to move with some freedom and take a shot at goal, the shot was parried by the keeper who showed bravery by getting up quickly to smother the rebound by Kyle Johnson.
The chances were now coming fast and furious as a lob from Jamie Speer was headed on by Scott Bonner finding Tommy Walsh whose left foot shot went just out of reach of a stretching Kyle Johnson and past the far post.
Intricate passing from the boys in yellow proved too hot for Town to handle and Tommy Walsh stepped back to let Kyle take a free kick on the edge of the Leighton box.
The shot was hit low and hard and deflected off of the wall, bounced off the upright, rolled along the line and back in Brad Kirkwood’s grateful hands.
A free header at the far post from a Leighton corner saw the opportunity wasted as the header went way over the bar and bouncing down off the clubhouse roof.
Then it was the Sun’s turn to have a corner and a curling cross from Jack Johnson missed everyone in the six yard box except for Gary Wallace at the back who smashed the ball in at short range to make sure…making it two goals in two consecutive games for Mr Wallace.
Just before half time and there was a chance for everyone to make fun of the referee.
A Leighton free kick in front of goal was marked out incorrectly by the ref. As the referee counted the steps to show that he had made the correct decision the crowd all joined in. By the count of nine the ref moved away for the kick to be taken which was safely gathered by Matty Evans.
As the second half started Jack Johnson was on the ball again, and with his pace and agility he turned his marker and lashed a shot from the edge of the area which flew narrowly past the post.
Deji Ikusemori was a powerhouse in midfield for the Sun, making some strong, important tackles as well as reading the game well to provide his team mates with some excellent passing.
From another Jack Johnson corner the ball fell perfectly to Kyle Johnson whose header drifted just over the bar.
Karl Penny continued to use his pace to cause the Town defence some problems although his aim may need a little more practice!!
This was confirmed when on a break Karl had a one to one on the Town keeper but placed the ball just wide, this of course is also down to some fine keeping by Kirkwood who managed to narrow a difficult angle down to the most minimum possible!
Leighton Town seemed a little disappointing on the day and failed to really make any kind of attempt on the Sun goal, with the exception of one shot that darted just past the post and a shot from out of the area that was straight at Matty in the Sun goal.
Substitute Dom David came on and continued to run Town ragged and from a Kyle Johnson cross Dom volleyed the ball hard and true which was only stopped by a Town defender by saving the ball with his face.
And so the game finished with a clean sheet and another three points towards the Sun’s total for this season….next will be another away trip on Wednesday to Welwyn Garden City.