Stevenson nets superb treble as Leek battle back to see off Hanley to maintain their lead
Northern Premier League Hanley Town 1 Leek Town 3
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LEEK Town came from behind to earn the local bragging rights with a 3-1 victory over Hanley Town in the Northern Premier League West Division.
Rob Stevenson was the hat-trick hero, scoring his third treble of an individually impressive season and ensuring he remains the top scorer in the league.
However the leaders were made to work hard for their victory against an organised and robust Hanley side who kept the game close and made it made it far from comfortable for their visitors until Stevenson’s stoppagetime clincher.
With Lucas Weir suspended following an accumulation of yellow cards for previous club 1874 Northwich and now Leek, Blues manager Josh Brehaut was forced into one change to the starting lineup but actually made two.
Fenton Green replaced Weir, while Aaron Opoku was chosen ahead of Tom Reilly as Brehaut went with an extra striker alongside Stevenson and Tom Carr.
Despite the sunshine bathing the playing surface, Leek were caught completely cold at the start of the game and fell behind after only two minutes when Tyrone Ofori was first to the loose ball inside the area after an initial Hanley shot had been blocked, and he had time and space to slide his shot past Dino Visser into the net.
Fortunately for the Blues such an early goal meant they had plenty of time to recover and turn things round.
However the game then started to follow the pattern of the corresponding fixture last year when Leek struggled to get any form of passing game going against dogged opponents lined up into two banks of four.
For the first 25 minutes of play the Blues’ football was sporadic at best with a number of misplaced passes or the wrong option being taken.
They were also guilty of too many long hopeful balls looking for Opoku which the Hanley central defence were able to handle with Joel Stair the stand-out performer for the home side.
The inconsistency of some of the refereeing decisions were also adding to the angst of the Blues players and considerable contingent of travelling supporters, none more so when he failed to book Joe Mswalie for bringing down Stevenson who was
in full flow on a Leek breakaway, but then did show a yellow card to Green for a similar foul on the same Hanley player not long after.
Leek showed that they were more threatening when the ball was kept on the ground and Carr was brought down on the edge of the D after being found with a better pass which gave the Blues the perfect chance to respond, but while Tom Scully was able to lift his effort over the wall he was unable to keep it from going over the bar.
The Blues also started to get the ball wider as the Hanley full-backs appeared to be the weaker elements of their defence and Carr was able to beat Joshua Green a couple of times; the first time resulting in a cross that was just too high for Stevenson to get
on the end of whilst the second was to win a corner that would eventually lead to the Leek equaliser on 29 minutes.
After the initial delivery was cleared, the ball was picked up by the visitors and played along the floor to Opoku inside the area.
He flicked it inside to Stevenson who was caught by an Hanley player with the referee having no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot.
Stevenson picked himself up and fired in a high spot-kick that Adam Whitehouse managed to get a hand to but not enough to prevent the ball from entering the net for 1-1.
It had really been a goal out of nowhere for the Blues at this point of the game, but they then continued to press and went ahead on 39 minutes
with a well-crafted goal which again came as a result of keeping the ball on the ground.
The move initially began down the right as full back Liam Buckley combined well with both Opoku and Scully to keep possession and create the opportunity to deliver into the area.
The Hanley defence were able to deal with this but then Leek moved the play out to the left where skipper Marc Grocott eventually laid the ball back to Louis Keenan to curl in an inviting cross that found Stevenson climbing above Green to steer his header into the roof of the net for a lovely finish.
It was to be the lead that the Blues would take into the break despite a little bit of Hanley pressure towards
the end of the half now that the home side had been forced to come out of their defensive shell.
Leek began the second half as slowly as they had done in the first and Hanley were certainly the more positive side.
Visser was forced into punching away a dangerous early cross and then Grocott did well to deal with the second ball as the Leek back line faced an early test.
The Blues managed to fashion their first chance of the half after 52 minutes when Opoku broke free down the left.
He did well to hold the ball up for the supporting Grocott who again teed up Keenan for one of his telling crosses. His delivery to the far post was taken away from Whitehouse
by one of his defenders heads with the result that the ball dropped to Stevenson at the far post.
Unfortunately the striker failed to get full contact on his volley and it was able to be cleared from inside the six-yard box.
Back came Hanley and Keenan did brilliantly to defend a dangerous inswinging corner on 59 minutes before Leek then had a spell of play
where they could and should have got the cushion of a third goal.
On the hour mark Carr showed a moment of brilliance as he tracked back and did well to win the ball on the halfway line and the set off on a mazy 40-yard run up to the edge of the Hanley area, leaving a couple of players in his wake, before his eventual effort took a deflection to just go wide of Whitehouse’s post.
The resultant corner was swung into the near post and was not dealt with by the Hanley defence resulting in a bit of a scramble before it was eventually poked clear.
Carr was then the provider on 65 minutes for Leek’s best chance. Stevenson had managed to hold the ball up from a Leek clearance and find the supporting Carr who was on the counter-attack along with Opoku.
Carr played the perfect through-ball for Opoku to run clear of the Hanley defence and had only Whitehouse to beat.
However the striker never looked confident and blazed his effort over Whitehouse but also over the crossbar.
It was to be Opoku’s final contribution to the game as Brehaut made the substitution he had already lined up with Tim Grice coming on to replace the number nine.
Hanley also made a couple of changes, bringing on former Leek players Lucas Baker and Tim Sanders.
There was obvious concern amongst the Blues faithful that the ‘law of the ex-player’ would strike but, as it was, the tricky Baker was well contained by the consistently impressive Buckley, while Sanders was restricted to one long range effort, although it did have Visser nervously scrambling across his goal as it flew wide of the upright.
Carr had another decent chance to extend Leek’s lead when the referee allowed play on after Stevenson had been fouled but shot straight at Whitehouse before Saul Shotton poked an effort wide for Hanley when well placed to meet a far post delivery as play switched to the other end.
Shotton must then have thought he had equalised for Hanley on 77 minutes when the Leek defence only half cleared a cross from the right and he met the ball on the volley which took a deflection to towards the corner of the goal only to see Visser fling himself to his left and palm the ball behind for a corner for a fantastic save to preserve the Blues lead.
And it was a reminder that it was only a one-goal lead, as it had been the previous week against Vauxhall.
And as the home side started to pump the ball forward at every opportunity the tension was building and it was becoming a nervous watch. The Blues wouldn’t concede a late equaliser for the second week running would they?
On the pitch itself the game became a little more scrappy and feisty which was not helped by some of the officiating that was letting certain challenges go and then pulling up play for others which meant both sides really didn’t know where they stood.
Grocott and Hanley full-back James Askey had been having a right battle and when Askey pulled Grocott to the ground everyone was amazed to see the foul given the other way.
Askey then put in a couple of late challenges on Grocott, but only one earned a yellow card.
Stair blotted his positive performance with a yellow and then Scully was booked for Leek for a challenge that actually won the ball but was deemed to be overly aggressive.
But the stop-start nature of the game was actually helping Leek to manage the clock towards full time and a valuable three points.
However, the signal of six minutes stoppage time did nothing to ease the nerves as Hanley continued to press until the tension was finally lifted with Stevenson’s and Leek’s third goal following another break.
Tim Grice was in an offside position when the ball was played forward but sensibly made no attempt to interfere with it and Stevenson won the foot race with the advancing Whitehouse to lift the ball over the Hanley keeper with his first touch and then meet the dropping ball with his second to roll it into the empty net and finish the game to the delirium of the Leek support behind the goal.
Leek Town: Visser, Buckley, Keenan, Ndene, Harrison, Scully, Grocott, Green, Opoku (Grice, 66), Carr, Stevenson. Subs not used: Bavington, Lewis, Parke, Reilly.
Attendance: 420.