Met Police 2 Blues 1

Leiston returned to league action on Saturday when they made the rip to the Metropolitan Police writes Ollie Fairs. There were a few changes made to the Leiston starting line up with the absent Matt Blake being replaced by new signing Niko Muir with fellow new signing Joe Marsden being named on the bench. There was nothing between the two teams for the first 10 minutes of the first half as they both looked to get off to a positive start, but it was the Met Police that managed to get the breakthrough in 12 minutes. It all came about when a free kick from deep was floated into the box and Leiston keeper Jacob Marsden looked to punch clear but could only push it straight into the air and straight to Ollie Robinson who volleyed it in to give the home side the lead. The Blues wasted no time getting back in the game however when Patrick Brothers picked up the ball in the opposition half before driving towards goal, shrugging off a number of challenges before blasting his shot from 18 yards past the keeper to draw Leiston level again after 17 minutes. Leiston then had a great chance to put themselves ahead later on in the first half when Joe Francis made a run in behind the defence and was expertly picked out by Gareth Heath but his attempt on goal didn't even test the keeper. Both teams where then limited to half chances for the remainder of the first 45 most of the highlights going the way of Leiston. Niko Muir was involved in a number of occasions, having a shot blocked in the box which fell to Joe Francis who could not keep his shot down. He was also allowed to turn and create himself a yard of space in the box, but his shot towards the bottom right hand corner was well saved. While the first half was a fairly even affair Leiston will have been the happier of the two teams and that began to show as they controlled the game for the vast majority of the second half. They looked to slow the game down and chose to play a calm, possession based style of football which limited the home side to very few chances. Leiston on the other hand continued to create chances and looked as if they were going to score when Niko Muir was played through and left one on one with the keeper who managed to rush out quickly and smother the shot to stop it reaching the back of the net. The Blues then had the best chance of the game so far when Seb Dunbar created some space for himself on the left wing and perfectly laid the ball off to Byron Lawrence in the box who it seemed was almost certain to score but he hit his shot straight at the goalkeeper who did well to keep it out. It seemed that Leiston would continue to pressure the home team and get the crucial goal to put them ahead but, surprisingly, it was the home side who took the lead. Met Police winger Roman Michael-Percil ran down the wing in the 80th minute before cutting back onto his preferred right foot only to see his shot take two lucky deflections, leaving Jacob Marsden with no chance as the ball rolled over the line to put the home team 2-1 up with just ten minutes of the ninety remaining. Leiston put everything that they had into getting an equalising goal but the Met Police stood firm and denied them on multiple occasions. Leiston will certainly feel they did not deserve to lose and the fact that they created more than enough chances to win the game will definitely make this defeat a hard one to take.

FT - Met Police 2 Blues 1

Met Police - Baker, Taylor, McLaughlin, Salmon, Robinson, Bartley, Robertson, Williams (Hickey), Hamici (Summers), Macklin, Michael-Percil (Sutherland). Subs not used - Collins and Smith.

Blues - Jacob Marsden, Brown, Dunbar, Ainsley (Finch), Jefford, Hutchings, Lawrence, Heath, Muir, Brothers (Joe Marsden), Francis (Pelling). Subs not used - Ottley-Gooch and Saker.

Man of the Match - Niko Muir

Attendance -