Boss Reed pleased with seventh-place finish for Leighton Town

​An injury-time penalty from Kyal Williams secured the win in front of over 650 fans, which could have jeopardised Hadley’s hopes of securing a play-off place but, fortunately for them, Thame United lost at home to champions Real Bedford to allow Hadley to secure fifth spot.

And speaking to the club’s media after the game, Leighton boss Paul Reed was pleased to end the campaign on a high.

He said: “I thought in the first-half we were the better side and you could see Hadley had a bit of a situation on their hands and might also have been mindful of injuries given they’ll now have a game on Wednesday, and good luck to them in the play-offs.

"I felt it should have been more than 1-0 at half-time, which for me is a bit of a story of our season in that we’ve allowed teams an opportunity to get back in the game, which Hadley did.

“But credit to the boys, we showed good character and it was a great penalty from Kyal and job done, ultimately.

"I was also delighted to get the result for the fans. We want to give people a smile on their face going into the summer and then when they look back on the season they remember the last game and the three points, which is good as I didn’t enjoy the previous four games without a win so I was pleased to end that run.

"I think we’ve made big steps forward. This was never going to be a seven-month appointment from my point of view, it’s also about going into next season and we wanted to build a squad of the right age and with the right people and I think we’ve recruited really well.

"So it’s been good but we can’t stop and next season will be really interesting in what I think will be a really tight league.”

Hadley will now go to Berkhamsted in Wednesday’s (30th) play-off semi-final, with Flackwell Heath hosting Barton Rovers in the other game and the final due to take place at the highest-placed of the two semi-final winners on Saturday.

At the bottom, North Leigh finished 29 points adrift of safety to prop up the table, with Kidlington and Kings Langley also relegated.