The Steve Heath era began in earnest at Leverstock Green today with their opening league fixture, and it turned out to be a cracker as Green shared the points with last season's runners-up Harefield United in a 1-1 draw in front of a bumper crowd of 100. This was a thriller of a match in sweltering conditions with plenty of chances for both sides, which could have gone either way, and in the end the draw was a fair result.

The Leverstock side is still far from the finished article, and there were two more new players on display today in Kevin Cotton and Ben Hammond, the latter returning to the club after a short spell last season. It was Green who had the game's first chance in the 3rd minute. Simon Conway won the ball with a sliding tackle and put Lewis Pritchard through, but Pritchard's eventual shot was saved by the legs of Harefield keeper Carl Tasker, a former Green player.

There was a good chance for Harefield on 15 minutes when a missed defensive header left Ray Curtis in space to square for Chris Drake, but he hit a weak shot straight at Gary White from six yards out. On 24 minutes Mark Welling won the ball from Murray Williamson and played a quick ball down the line for Pritchard, who crossed into the six yard box. Richard Harvey came in to meet it, but tried to chest it down instead of heading it, and the chance was gone. On 36 minutes Welling played Pritchard in again, but again Tasker blocked his shot.

Three minutes before the break Harefield broke away, with Drake putting Curtis through, but White made a great save to turn his shot wide. A minute later Lee Johnson cleared a shot from Warren Gladdy off the line.

Leverstock made two changes at half time, with Bekim Culaj and Ben Hammond replacing Richard Harvey and Craig Preston. Again they had the first chance of the half, four minutes in, as a corner found Johnson at the far post to head back across goal, where Conway headed over the bar. However, on 53 minutes Green took the lead. Again it was Welling winning the ball and putting Pritchard in, and this time Pritchard kept his cool to slip the ball under Tasker and over the line to open the scoring.

The lead could have been doubled a minute later when Pritchard played the ball across goal for Cotton, but he shot over. On the hour mark Bill Morgan made a great last-ditch saving tackle to prevent Drake from equalising. However on 64 minutes Curtis got past Culaj on the bye-line and pulled back for Williamson, who chipped the ball into the six yard box for Danny Buckle. The big striker muffed his first shot, but the ball came back down for him, and from a horizontal position Buckle lashed home the equaliser.

Four minutes later Green threatened to regain the lead. Dale Sears' cross found Pritchard, whose header was blocked, and from the rebound Conway hit a fierce shot which Tasker saved brilliantly. A minute later another cross from Sears caused chaos, but Pritchard and Conway were among those who couldn't put the ball away in the ensuing scramble.

On 80 minutes the Green defence was waiting for an offside flag that never came as Buckle put Denver Morris clean through, but again White saved well. Four minutes from time Cotton hit a speculative long-range shot for Green that was only just wide.

In stoppage time it was Harefield that went closest to winning the game. Drake tried a cute chip into the top corner, but White did well to tip it over the bar, and Buckle turned inside the box and hit a shot across goal but just wide of the far post. The final whistle sounded soon after, which was something of a relief to Leverstock's tiring side.