Unlucky Leighton pay the penalty
Town lose out in cruelest fashion
Beds Senior Cup final
Leighton town 2
Arlesey Town 2
(Arlesey win 3-1 on pens)
Leighton will be wondering just what they have to do to win the Beds Senior Cup after losing out to their Southern League rivals in an entertaining game at Kenilworth Road on Friday night.
Town have now lost their last four finals in this competition but will believe they deserved better this time out as they created more and better chances than Arlesey, only to lose out in the most dramatic circumstances.
Sean Downey's men had the first shot of the game after eight minutes but Ben Porter's 20-yard effort flew wide of goal. Arlesey's first chance came from a corner but Kavanagh put his header well wide.
Leighton struggled at times in defence with the aerial threat caused by Harrington's long throws. Following a corner in the 21st minute Town twice had to clear the ball off the line to prevent Arlesey taking the lead. But Leighton came close too with Leon Cashman's free-kick met by a powerful Stuart Deaton header which Arlesey did well to scramble away.
Leighton eventually went in front in the 30th minute with a superb goal following a move involving some accurate passing between Wes Lewis, Porter and James Hatch.
Striker Hatch received the ball and neatly side-stepped his marker before expertly curling his shot across keeper Patching and into the far corner. But Arlesey were back on level terms five minutes later when Reynolds fired home from just outside the penalty area.
That is how it stayed going into the second half when - on the hour mark - Aston Goss floated a neat free-kick to the back post where Deaton headed it powerfully into the net.
A few minutes later and Town had their chance to put the game beyond Arlesey as a clever piece of interplay between Goss and Ben Gallant saw the former fire just past the near post under pressure.
And they were made to pay as Arlesey drew level following a short corner when Gregson knocked the ball home from close range after Town had partially blocked an earlier effort.
Craig Kench almost nicked Town a winner in the closing stage, but his shot just missed the target. And in the second period of extra time Garner shot over for Arlesey before Dan Walker thought he'd won it for Leighton, but his lob landed just wide of target.
And so it went to penalties. Walker converted Town's first, but misses by Chapman, Gallant and Porter ensured Arlesey won the Cup for the first time since 2004, when they also edged past Leighton.
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Weather for Leighton Buzzard
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: East
