Longlevens Reserves dominant but made to work hard for victory over Ruardean Hill
Longlevens Reserves were forced to be patient despite dominating the game, as they beat Ruardean Hill Rangers 2-0 on Tuesday night.
The hosts had to wait for two second half goals, with Leo Marsden-Green finding the bottom corner before Theo Bevan came off the bench to add a late second.
In a match that saw Longlevens pepper the Ruardean Hill box with crosses and shots on Arron Underwood’s goal, the hosts were made to work harder than it initially looked like it would be in order to get the result.
The win is Levens’ third win in the last four league matches, seeing them move up to 6th in the County League table after their opening nine league fixtures.
For Ruardean, they struggled to supply their forward line and defended incredibly well, with Underwood impressing throughout.
They sit in 12th place in the table, having won two and lost three of their opening five league games.
Ruardean are back in action at the weekend, when they host Hardwicke in the GFA Senior Amateur (North) Cup, whilst Longlevens have a free week.
Longlevens came out of the blocks, moving the ball nicely, but didn’t create anything with too much quality in the opening period of the game.
Lewis Vye fired off target twice in the opening 13 minutes, before Brad Martin headed over from a Rylan Snelgrove corner.
Martin combined with Gino Valenti on 19 minutes, who slid through for Marsden-Green, but his effort was well saved by Arron Underwood.
Underwood produced further stops from Ollie Morrissey and Vye in quick succession, with the hosts starting to get a little bit frustrated that the score remained 0-0.
Marsden-Green and Snelgrove were running the game on the Levens left hand side and both had efforts before the break, with the former heading over from a corner and the latter having a drilled effort saved by the feet of Underwood.
Morrissey’s cross from the right was diverted wide of the near post by Valenti in the first five minutes of the second half, before Underwood produced a smart stop to palm away Valenti’s curling shot after cutting in from the right.
Underwood appear to be unsighted moments later though, as Marsden-Green finally broke the deadlock on 57 minutes.
Marsden-Green was found on the left side of the box and after cutting inside, he drilled into the bottom corner with the keeper seeming to get down too slow to keep it out.
The hosts were forced into a change at the back after skipper Tom Spencer collided with Underwood at the back post from a corner and the defender had to be helped from the field.
Marsden-Green should have made it two on 64 minutes, after being picked out by Snelgrove’s ball in. Marsden-Green side stepped a defender but saw his effort blocked by a last ditch tackle.
The barrage of home pressure continued into the final twenty minutes of the game, however with the scoreline only 1-0 the game was far from safe.
Brad Martin had two great chances but was denied by Underwood on both occasions – with the second one frustrating for the striker as it rebounded off Underwood, looped up into the box in the middle of the goal and there weren’t any red shirts gambling on it.
Two crosses into the Ruardean box saw two close efforts, with a corner flicked onto the bar off a Ruardean head and Toby Boakes heading over from another beautiful cross from Morrissey.
On 85 minutes, the visitors had their only real shot of note in the game, as a free kick was nodded out to Steve Clark – but he couldn’t direct his volley on target.
And within seconds, the game was done. Lewis Vye worked a yard of space on the left hand side before his ball in was turned home from close range by Theo Bevan, securing all three points for the hosts.
Arron Underwood and Rylan Snelgrove were outstanding on the night, but Leo Marsden-Green the difference between the two sides for large parts.
Longlevens Reserves: Sargeant, Roddis, Snelgrove, Boakes, Spencer, Morrissey, Valenti, Brown, Martin, Vye
Subs: Walsh, Thornton, Demirok, Bevan, Alderman
Ruardean Hill Rangers: Underwood, Lewis, Ball, Sladen, Brown, Barrett, Thomas, Mason, Telling, Baskerville, Clark
Subs: Parfitt, Jayne, Henderson, Monaghan
C Martin Roofing Man of the Match – Leo Marsden-Green (Longlevens Reserves)
READ MORE: Check out the list of Saturday’s fixtures in and around Gloucestershire right here
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