Clinical second half display sees Longlevens Reserves remain unbeaten in GNSL

Four second half goals helped Longlevens Reserves maintain their unbeaten record in Gloucestershire Northern Senior League Division One, beating Falcons 5-0 at Longford Lane.

Goals from Ollie Morrissey, Jack Cornell, Leo Marsden-Green and Toby Summers added to a first half strike from Fin Rankin as the hosts kept up with league leaders Whaddon United.

With Dursley Town drawing at home to Brockworth Albion and Whaddon winning 4-0 against Tredworth Tigers, Levens Reserves find themselves in 3rd place and six points off top spot with four games in hand.

Levens head to Dursley at the end of March in a huge fixture, but will be busy ahead of that with their County Cup Semi Final at Bromley Heath United followed by home games against Tredworth, Charfield and Gala Wilton before the trip to Dursley.

Falcons drop to 7th in the table, with Brockworth’s point seeing them move up to 5th and a point ahead – with Falcons finding themselves five points ahead of the bottom three.

Saturday’s result never felt in doubt, with the hosts dominant albeit off the pace and wasteful in the first half.

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Jack Cornell had the ball in the net on 6 minutes, but the goal was chalked off for a handball in the build up.

Cornell slid a ball through to Toby Summers moments later and after he rounded Falcons keeper Ollie Undy, got a horrible bobble and he missed a clear net.

James Barnett had a shot blocked, with the follow up corner headed over as the hosts pressed for the opener.

It came on 25 minutes as Fin Rankin beat his man down the right side of the box and drilled into the bottom corner to leave Undy no chance.

Undy produced saves from Cornell on three separate occasions in the final 15 minutes of the half, before Undy spilled an Ollie Morrissey free kick – but saw his recovering defender hook Cornell’s follow up off the line.

At half time Craig Martin let his Longlevens side know that they needed to improve to see the game out and earn their three points and he was repaid by his side with two goals in two minutes after the restart.

First, Morrissey got forward from right back to crash an effort off the bar and despite Summers nodding home the follow up, it had bounced over the line already and Morrissey is credited with the goal.

Morrissey, who was Severn Sport’s Man of the Match on the day, then turned provider as his through ball was dummied through to Cornell, who took his time before slotting under Undy for 3-0.

Levens keeper Jack Sargent made his only save of the game on the hour mark, pushing Felix Davis free kick wide for a corner.

Substitute Leo Marsden-Green forced home a fourth with just over 15 minutes to go, as a scramble from a corner was poked over the line.

Cornell should have added a fifth with five minutes to go after Summers got onto a through ball, squared past Undy and defender Matt Thompson got back to hook Cornell’s effort off the line.

But the fifth came two minutes later as Cornell was tripped in the box. Luke Troke saw his penalty well saved by Undy, who was unfortunate to see Summers reach the ball first and fire into the roof of the net.

Next up for Falcons, they will be looking to get back to winning ways after a tough couple of games against Whaddon and Longlevens, when they host Lydney Town Reserves next weekend – before a trip to English Bicknor.

Longlevens Reserves: Sargent, Morrissey, Snelgrove, Boakes, Thornton, Demirok, Rankin, Spencer, Barnett, Cornell, Summers

Subs: Marsden-Green, Kavanagh, Kent, Walsh, Troke

Falcons: Undy, Griffin, Jallow, Mangan, Thompson, Brookes, Elander, Jackson, Hendy, Davis, Starkey

Subs: Pickup, Woodley, Hayward, Green