10 man Hartpury hold out to secure win over Longlevens

Hartpury University held on for 45 minutes with 10 men to beat Longlevens 2-1, and move up into the play-off places in the Hellenic Premier.

Hartpury went into the game having lost their last two home matches, but an early double from Billy Osborn had them two goals to the good inside the first 22 minutes.

Longlevens pulled one back through Cam Williams – who has grabbed a goal in three consecutive games for his side.

But having already escaped an earlier booking, Louis Manning was cautioned moments after Hartpury’s second goal, before needlessly tripping his man on the halfway line in first half stoppage time – leaving the referee no option.

Despite the man advantage, Longlevens just didn’t have enough on the night to break down a resolute Hartpury defence, that stay disciplined with their shape throughout.

The win sees Hartpury move up to 5th in the table, ahead of a fixture at home to 6th place Fairford Town on Saturday, whilst Longlevens remain in 15th, with seven points from their first seven league games.

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The game started with a disaster for Longlevens. After a poor back pass from Austin Parker, Osborn won the 50/50 challenge with Kane Winman and squeezed his effort past the recovering Ollie Long to give the hosts the perfect start.

It was a poor goal for Longlevens to concede and summed up their first 20 minutes or so, where a number of the players struggled to settle into any sort of rhythm.

Hartpury took advantage of the distance left between midfielders as Osborn smartly turned, dribbled to the edge of the box and his effort slipped past Winman.

And following Manning’s yellow card, for a lunge on Lewis Rose, and Kian Kang striking the foot of the post just before the half an hour mark, Longlevens clicked into life and played their best football of the night in the final 15 minutes of the first half.

Josh Mason worked space on the right hand side and saw his cross headed just wide by Jack Beardsell, who should have at least tested Stephen Sarkodie.

Manning rattled the bar moments later, before Dan Roddis and Josh Mason combined down the right and the pull back was side footed into the top corner by Williams.

Hartpury thought they should have had a penalty just after half time, but Billy Osborn saw his appeals turned away, before he has booked for a subsequent foul on Ollie Long.

The hosts went down to nine with twenty minutes to go after Jacob Towns was sinbinned, but they stayed solid and disciplined to withstand the balls into the box from Longlevens.

Centre-half Will Merrett was particularly impressive, heading everything that came into the area and utilising a no-nonsense approach.

Following the game, Riley McGregor was presented with the Severn Sport Player of the Month award for August and he nearly added a third for his side, but Winman made a smart stop down to his right.

In the end Longlevens just lacked that cutting edge in the final third and couldn’t really create a clear cut chance for an equaliser.

Both sides are at home this weekend, with Hartpury hosting a tasty showdown with Fairford, whilst Longlevens have the tough visit of Mangotsfield United.

Hartpury University: Sarkodie, Kent, Robinson, Merrett, Roney, Kang, Manning, Towns, Osborn, McGregor, Salter

Subs: Giles, Sims, Roddy, Mackenzie, Shyamapant

Longlevens: Winman, Roddis, Kelly, Long, Parker, Westrip, Brown, Williams, Beardsell, Mason, Rose

Subs: C Martin, O’Connor, McLean, Richardson, Byard

C Martin Roofing Man of the Match – Will Merrett (Hartpury University)