Halesowen Town 2-1 Blues

Leiston lost to Halesowen Town on the opening day of the season yesterday afternoon, just their second lost on the first day of the campaign in their 12th season at Step 3.

Blues joint managers Chris Wigger and Darren Eadie had a full squad to pick from ahead of the first game.

There was early and heavy rain in Halesowen on the morning of the game but the pitch was in fine shape as the players warmed up. Before the match, there was a minutes silence to remember Ryan Passey, a young man who was murdered in 2017.

The game began with Sam Donkin taking an early cross from the right within the first forty seconds of the encounter. Rossi Jarvis did well to block Jak Hickman’s shot while on 9 minutes, the Blues, playing in red on the day, had their first effort on goal when Jamar Loza cut back a ball on the byline but Spencer Keller’s effort was deflected away for a corner. A minute later, and Ollie Saunders and Ross Crane combined on the right and put in Wyatt Hill who went into the area, however, his dangerous ball into the middle of the area was cleared to safety. Miracle Okafor’s stinging attempt was again blocked well by Rossi Jarvis before Ross Crane was booked midway through the half. Sam Donkin made a good save from Okafor while just after the half hour mark, Seb Dunbar’s ball to Jamar Loza saw the striker take the ball down and shoot wide of Daniel Platt’s left hand post. The hosts took the lead on 36 minutes. Donkin made a decent stop to keep out Halesowen but from the corner, the Blues couldn’t clear the loose ball and it fell to Miracle Okafor who slotted into the keeper’s bottom right hand corner. The game then petered out before the interval with no clear cut chances.

After the break, a mistake in the Leiston defence allowed the excellent Okafor to get away from the Blues back line and the striker calmly steered the ball past Donkin to double the home sides advantage. The player shot well over when well placed on 51 minutes and Halesowen then seemed to sit back and let Leiston have more of the ball. Keller went close on 65 minutes, forcing Platt to claw his effort away to his right whilst Loza reacted well to a quick free kick to turn the home defence but the player shot just wide of Platt’s left hand upright. Halesowen had chances that went wide of Donkin’s goal and Leiston had a great chance to pull a goal back when Dunbar’s cross was met by Crane and he diverted the ball into Loza’s path but the striker couldn’t get on the end of it. Leiston did get a goal back on 94 minutes, after good work by Jackson and Marsden set up Loza who made no mistake to dispatch the ball past Platt. On 97 minutes, the Blues won a corner but Halesowen cleared and that was that.

FT: - Halesowen Town 2-1 Blues.

Leiston host AFC Telford United next weekend in their first home match of the campaign (3pm kick off).

Line-ups: -

Halesowen Town: - Platt, Ezewele, Mitchell, Hawker (sub Elliott 60 mins), Wynter, Morris, Hickman (sub Cater 75 mins), Parker, Okafor (sub Boothe 81 mins), Holmes, Manning. Subs not used: - Redfern, Readhead.

Blues: - Donkin, Hill (sub Spooner 88 mins), Dunbar, Saunders, Casement (sub Jackson 90+2 mins), Crane, Dronfield (sub Ryan Jarvis 75 mins), Loza, Marsden, Keller, Rossi Jarvis. Sub not used: - Bailey-Dennis.

Blues man of the match: - Ollie Saunders.

Attendance: - 819.