Lydney take huge step towards survival with win over lacklustre Longlevens

Lydney Town secured a crucial three points in their Hellenic League survival bid, with a commanding 2-0 win over Longlevnes, on Wednesday night.

A first half effort from Kyle Gibbs and a Jordi Sheen penalty were enough to see Lydney take the points in a very one-sided contest.

The result leaves both sides on 25 points in the Hellenic Premier table, four points clear of the drop zone.

Lee Smith and Adam Dix’s side have seven games left, whilst Longlevens have the four and both know that they need to win as many of the their remaining games as possible to retain their status.

The relegation battle in the league sees bottom placed Malmesbury Victoria seven points adrift, but still have 12 games remaining.

Brimscombe & Thrupp will be relegated on Saturday if they suffer defeat at Tuffley Rovers, or even if they win if both Longlevens and Lydney pick up wins against Cirencester Town and Royal Wootton Bassett Town, respectively.

So realistically, it leaves one from three and with Lydney and Longlevens still to play Malmesbury during a run of eight games in the next three weeks, the Gloucestershire sides still have an element of having their destiny in their own hands.

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Wednesday night’s game saw Lydney make a fast start after Shaun O’Connor’s poor pass on the edge of his own box, Kane Winman made a good initial stop, before Kyle Gibbs followed up to fire home for the visitors.

Winman was called into action soon after, but he did well to hold onto Ryley Mace’s rasping effort.

Myles Crowson managed to get into space down the right for Longlevens, but his cross was headed straight at Olly Phillips by Monty New.

Lydney should have doubled their lead before the break, but after a free kick into the box was headed down, Sheen could only volley wide from close range.

At the break, Lydney would have been delighted, yet frustrated, that they weren’t out of sight.

Archie Myatt had the first chance of the second half, shaking off Ryan Williams before firing wide.

Longlevens were struggling massively, with Mike Symons dominating their defence, Jordi Sheen and Kyle Gibbs dominating the midfield and Sam Elliott giving a lesson on how to defend in the Hellenic League.

Sam Kelly and Ben Hands came on for the hosts and in all honesty, were the best players in red on the night, which told it’s own story.

The second came just before the hour mark, with Longlevens once again losing the ball and falling apart as Lydney countered.

Winman was left completely exposed and in an attempt to win the ball, tripped Gibbs in the box. Sheen stepped up to fire home, although Winman did get a strong hand to it.

Hands had two efforts off target for the hosts, before combining well on the edge of box – but his effort was blocked.

Sam Kelly made a great goalline block to keep out Symons with 10 minutes to go, but Lydney were given a second penalty moments later.

Once again, Winman was left exposed and for the second time in the match he made a good save but no one in red reacted. And for the second time, he tripped an attacker in the box for Lydney’s second penalty.

This time Winman produced a save to keep his side in it, but other than an off target volley, Longlevens created very little.

Longlevens will need a massive reaction in their next two, with a trip to Cirencester Town on Saturday, before a showdown with Brimscombe next Wednesday.

For Lydney, after they host Royal Wootton Bassett Town on Saturday, they welcome league leaders Hartpury to the Rec in midweek – with a trip to Malmesbury next weekend.

Longlevens: Winman, Beardsell, Byard, Barnett, R Williams, Brown, C Williams, O’Connor, New, Crowson, Sutherland

Subs: Kelly, Knight, Sysum, Hands, Haswell

Lydney Town: Phillips, Prictor, Mace, Graham, Elliott, Gibbs, Sheen, Johnson, Pinchard, Symons, Myatt

Subs: Vaughan, James, Pierson, Guest, Smith

C Martin Roofing Man of the Match – Mike Symons (Lydney Town)