Leighton lose 8 goal thriller

Leighton Town FC 3-5 St Ives Town

With a spectacular win during the week against high flying Kettering, Leighton hoped to continue their success against St Ives.

St Ives kicked off the first half and Leighton looked like a completely different team compared to Tuesday night, although the only change was Aaron Morgan in place of an injured Christian Lester. 

Morgan made his presence known on the pitch even before a minute had past taking a shot at goal, but the attempt was weak and wide but worth a try. 

A chance for Danny Watson rose when Phil Draycott navigated his way past two defenders but Watson could only find the sky. 

The 8th minute saw Stuart Eason take advantage of Leightons disorganised back four and find the back of the net, putting St Ives 1-0 up. The referee failed to stop play in the 12th minute when Morgan went down with a head injury, thankfully he was able to continue after treatment.

A good cross by Mark Bunker was just too far for Draycott to reach in the box as he was greeted by Barney McLaughlins' arms. Leighton didn't give up and a powerful shot from Tyrone Taylor in the 19th minute curved too much before it could really challenge St Ives. 

Bunker and Morgan worked together well to find front man Watson who put a cross in, which Jamie Nicholls managed to head home, making it 1-1. A two footed tackle on Bunker by Ben Seymour-Shove saw Leighton win a free kick, but no yellow card for Seymour-Shove. 

Draycott with the free kick found Taylors' head, who challenged the keeper, but McLaughlin stood strong. Another chance for Leighton came after some good play in midfield saw the ball fall to Alvin Rajaram, but he couldn't find the net. 

29 minutes had past and it all kicked off, Bunker was shown a red card for taking down a player in the box and a penalty was awarded to St Ives. Jonathan Stead stepped up and put the ball away to send St Ives 2-1 into the lead. 

With the referee having lost his head, making rash decisions and not being consistent it wasn't a surprise when he didn't notice a pass back to McLaughlin in the 35th minute. 

A shot from Stead was well stopped by Dan Child in the 41st minute to deny St Ives another goal. A bad tackle on Dave Murphy gave Leighton a chance at goal and saw Draycott step up to take the free kick, once again finding Taylor who couldn't get close enough to the outstretched McLaughlin. 

The second half saw Leighton kick it up a notch scoring from the word go. Paul Lyon got in on the action with Taylor and Morgan both racing past St Ives defence to find Draycott who levelled the score making it 2-2. 

Leightons first substitution came in the 50th minute bringing off goal scorer Nicholls for Robbie Goodman. A yellow card was shown to Will Fordham for obstructing Draycott as he went running towards goal. 

Draycott was on hand to take the free kick he won and he found the back of the net but celebrations were short lived when the linesman flagged that Taylor had been offside and the goal was disallowed. 

Chris Crook received a yellow card in the 63rd minute, yet another strange decision made by the referee. 

Goodman played a perfect ball through to Morgan in the 68th minute but was quickly taken down in the box by McLaughlin to stop him from scoring. McLaughlin was shown a red card and Watson took his place on the spot, he didn't disappoint and put Leighton 3-2 up. 

A succession of substitution then took place, two being made for St Ives and Leighton bringing on Warren Garcia for Morgan. 

The 79th minute saw St Ives equalise when Rajaram missed the ball and made way for Seymour-Shove, who slotted the ball firmly into the left hand corner before Child could reach it. 

A yellow card was shown to Lyon after he took down Seymour-Shove. Seymour-Shove was quick to recover as straight from the free kick he found the back of the net, sending St Ives once again into the lead.  

Leighton tried their best to pull a goal back with a shot from Watson in the 86th minute, but was saved with ease. It didn't get any easier for Leighton when miscommunication between Child and the rest of the team saw Stead run free, one on one with the Child to score St Ives 5th and final goal.

Leightons next game is away to Aylesbury United (at Bell Close) on Monday 25th August at 3pm.

St Ives Town

Team- McLaughlin, Medwynter, Alsop, Lambert, Fordham, Dean, Sinclair, Stead, Gibbs, Eason, Seymour-Shove

Subs- Smith, Hall, Bream, Muzuimbiri 

Leighton Town FC

Team- Child, Bunker, Rajaram, Crook, Murphy, P.Lyon, Nicholls, Morgan, Taylor, Watson, Draycott

Subs- Garcia, Goodman, Durcan, Lyons, Prendergast

Attendance- 87 

By Hannah Sellman