Five-star Hertford put poor Town to the sword

Manager-less Leighton’s leaky back line has now conceded 16 in their last three matches, and they’ve fallen to 20th in the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division.

It was something of a baptism of fire for interim manager Scott Reynolds, who took over from Paul Burgess, who left his post two weeks ago.

But given the number of new faces introduced to the Leighton side for the trip to second placed Hertford, the visitors looked a little disjointed, and it reflected in the scoreline.

The task facing Leighton was made even more difficult after just four minutes when a rash challenge from Craig Maisiri gave Hertford a spot kick.

Full back, Ed Taylor stepped up for the spot kick and sent keeper Brad Kirkwood the wrong way with a cool finish.

Leighton replied with a couple of decent efforts , but neither Lewis McBride or Josh Bamford could hit the target.

Town’s hopes of getting back into the game were knocked in the 20th minute when Phillip Lowen skipped through the Town defence before looking up and squaring for Tommy Wade to knock the ball home.

The hosts made it 3-0 six minutes before the break when Lowen, who was fully 40 yards from goal, spotted Kirkwood off his line and lifted his shot over the Town keeper.

Any hopes Town had of finding a way back into the game effectively disappeared and a minute before half time the hosts netted their fourth when Brett O’Connor stepped inside his marker before shooting left footed into the far corner.

Town could only play for their pride in the second half and to be fair they worked hard and prevented the hosts from creating many chances.

Leighton did have something to cheer in the 76th minute though when McBride beat two defenders to fire low past Jack Bartlett.

A few minutes before the end though, Leighton showed their defensive frailties once more when Mark Smith under hit a back pass and Benjamin Andreos rounded Kirkwood to tap the ball into the unguarded goal for Hertford’s fifth.