Levens U18s maintain league form with five star display against Sarries

Longlevens U18s continued their good form in the Cheltenham Youth Floodlit League North Division with a 5-0 win over Cheltenham Saracens, on Monday night.

Both sides went into the contest with much changed line-ups from their meeting in the Severn Sport Cup last Thursday and it was one way traffic for the most part.

Henry Driver-Dickerson won and converted from the spot on 14 minutes, his third penalty against Sarries in five days.

Lewis Vye slid home a second, before Toby Boakes headed home from a corner before half time.

Following the break, another corner saw Thomas Whorrall head home at the near post, before Boakes slid home his second with just under an hour on the clock.

The result is the perfect tonic for Brandon Vance’s side, who would have been disappointed with their showing on Thursday night.

It leaves Levens 2nd in the North table, four points behind Gloucester City but with three games hand.

For Sarries, it continues a mixture of form, with their last three league games resulting in defeats without scoring a goal and only returning three wins from their 10 league matches so far this campaign.

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Both sides made changes to their line ups from the cup game, but it was the hosts who settled best – with Jayden Bee buzzing around the pitch and taking up some really good positions.

Bee had an early effort saved by Sarries keeper Alfie Vincent, before he and Whorrall both sent efforts off target on 11 minutes.

Three minutes later, Henry Driver-Dickerson was tripped in the box and he duly obliged with his chance to break the deadlock.

The striker, who was awarded the Severn Sport Player of the Month award for February before the game, then played his part in a lovely second goal.

Driver-Dickerson flicked a long ball down the right hand side, for Fin Rankin to cross into the path of Lewis Vye to slide the ball past Vincent.

Jason Roberts had Sarries first chance of the game, but he headed tamely at Jack Sargent from a free kick.

Whorrall had a number of chances during the first half, but found either his radar askew or Vincent annoyingly hard to beat.

There was nothing Vincent could do with four minutes left of the first half, as a corner from the left was whipped perfectly to the back post – allowing Toby Boakes to sneak round the back to head home.

Vincent did well moments later though, keeping out Rylan Snelgrove’s driven effort from the corner of the box.

Two goals in eight second half minutes added gloss to the result for the hosts, with Whorrall heading home from a corner on 50 minutes, before Driver-Dickerson’s ball in from the left was slid home by Boakes once more.

In between the goals, Bee rifled an effort off the crossbar, with Vincent pulling off a great save to keep out Whorrall’s follow up header.

The visitors’ best chance of the game saw Cameron Frew rifle an effort in from just shy of 25 yards, only for it to crash off the bar.

In the end, the game fizzled out in the final 15 minutes or so – with Longlevens comfortably on their way to three points.

There were a number of stand out performances on the night, with midfielder Kaya Demrick catching the eye as an engine in the midfield for Brandon Vance’s side.

Both sides now move onto County Cup action, with Sarries hosting Droitwich Spa in the Giantkillers Cup on Thursday night, whilst Longlevens welcome Dursley Town in the Gloucestershire FA County Cup on Sunday afternoon.

Longlevens U18s: Sargent, Esson, Pierce, Boakes, Snelgrove, Demrick, Bee, Vye, Driver-Dickerson, Whorrall, Rankin

Subs: Ball, Mitchell, Humphries, Walsh, Bevan

Cheltenham Saracens U18s: Vincent, Parker, O Williams, Frew, Rose, Leach, Roberts, Philip, Ricketts, Scott, A Williams

Subs: Horracks, Kirsch, Soule, Holmes, Dzwonkowski

C Martin Roofing Man of the Match – Kaya Demrick (Longlevens U18s)