Leverstock Green made it five wins in a row and seven games unbeaten as they continued their quest for a top-six finish with another three points from Tuesday night's home game against Oxhey Jets. Penalty king Lee Bircham made the difference as Green's skipper netted his 10th spot kick of the season and his 15th goal in all, which surely makes him one of the highest-scoring full-backs in football.

Once again Green had to do it the hard way as they fell behind early on. It was an unfortunate moment for keeper Carl Tasker, who went up confidently to catch an incoming corner, but as he came down the ball hit the back of Oxhey player Adam Lowton. The impact dislodged the ball from his hands and it flew back into the net to give Oxhey an 8th minute lead.

Leverstock took a while to get into the game, but soon began to create chances. On 19 minutes a Bircham free kick dropped for Craig Preston, whose shot was saved by the legs of Jets keeper Sam Styles. Four minutes later a forward ball from Louis West was headed down by Preston to Jon Davies, who volleyed over the bar.

The equaliser came on 38 minutes from a well-worked move. Davies played a pass that put Dan Boyle clean through, and his shot across goal was turned into the net by Charlie Gorman, scoring his 10th goal of the season.

Oxhey went close with a couple of shots soon after, but the game went into the break level at 1-1, which was a fair reflection of the even nature of the game.

Leverstock made a strong start to the second half, winning a number of corners, and the pace of Louis Austin was causing Oxhey a lot of problems. On 54 minutes another Austin run into the box was ended when defender Steve Brown brought him down from behind. The referee pointed straight to the spot, and Bircham did the rest, although he was somewhat fortunate as the ball went in off the post to give his side a 2-1 lead.

Green had plenty of chances to add to their lead. On 59 minutes West's header from a Bircham corner was headed off the line by Chris Killer. The rebound dropped for Gorman but he volleyed just over the bar. Two minutes later Bill Morgan got on the end of a long throw from Austin, but his glancing header also went over the bar.

On 71 minutes there was another great run from Austin as he beat two defenders inside the box, but his ball across goal was cleared. Four minutes from time Austin's header from another Bircham corner was cleared off the line. Oxhey keeper Styles felt he was fouled and said so to the referee - whatever he said must have been bad as the referee showed him a straight red card.

Defender Anthony Sheppard took over in goal as Oxhey had already used all their subs. He wasn't tested over the closing minutes, but he should have been beaten in the last minute. Dan Griggs' pass put Lewis Pritchard through, and with the Oxhey defence shouting for offside Pritchard had a clear run into the box, but with just Sheppard to beat from six yards, Pritchard pulled his shot well wide.

It proved not to matter as Leverstock held on comfortably to their lead through stoppage time to keep their impressive run going.