Leverstock Green returned to winning ways with a welcome three points against Hillingdon Borough at Pancake Lane. Hillingdon have slipped into relegation danger with a poor run of form, but today they had a new manager and largely new team on display. Even so, the scoreline makes the game look closer than it actually was; Leverstock were well on top throughout and would have won more comfortably but for an outstanding display by the Hillingdon keeper.

Steve Heath continued his recent policy of giving the club's young players a chance as he made more changes to the side. Lee Bircham, Simon Conway and Bill Morgan dropped to the bench, while 16 year old Stephen Hatch was brought into the back four for his first team debut. Carl Tasker, Bekim Culaj and Richard Harvey were brought back into the starting line-up.

Green's first near miss came in the 7th minute when a shot from Harvey which took a deflection was well saved by visiting keeper Tristan Thomas. On 12 minutes Matt Wardle chased a ball down the right touchline and put in a cross which was headed on by Jamie Sharples. The ball dropped nicely for Daniel Griggs, but his fierce volley was tipped over the bar by Thomas. Leverstock's tactic of leaving Adam Reid out wide on the left was working well, as he was often found in acres of space by a crossfield pass. On 27 minutes Mark Welling played the ball out wide to Reid, and he chased the ball down the channel, just getting his boot round the ball to cross before it ran out of play, and the cross beat Thomas and found Wardle with a simple tap-in from a yard out to give Green a 1-0 lead.

On 36 minutes Reid was out wide again, this time playing the ball down the channel for Jamie Sharples, who took on a defender before hitting a shot which Thomas saved. Four minutes later Reid played another pass to put Wardle through. Wardle took the ball round Thomas and hit it towards goal, but it was kept out by the hand of defender Ricky Brown. The referee awarded the penalty, but only booked Brown as he felt that the ball was not heading into the net before it hit Brown's hand. Leverstock failed to take advantage, though, as Griggs' penalty was saved by Thomas, who dived to his left to turn it round the post.

Leverstock's dominance continued in the second half. On 56 minutes Reid played the ball down the line for Sharples, who squared for the oncoming Wardle, but Brown got in a boot to deflect Wardle's shot round the post. Three minutes later Harvey got on the end of a cross from Reid but headed against the bar.

The missed chances began to look costly in the 61st minute. A series of missed clearances allowed Hillingdon's James Froud to burst through into the penalty area, only to be stopped by an outstretched leg from Hatch. The referee awarded another penalty, but Hillingdon made the most of theirs as Froud got up to take the kick himself and send Tasker the wrong way to level the scores at 1-1.

On 70 minutes Steve Heath made a double change, with Conway and Bircham replacing Sharples and Reid. It wasn't long before the change paid dividends. Wardle did well to win the ball off defender Jamie Tompkins, and he went on to cross and find the head of Conway, who put Green back in front at 2-1 just four minutes after coming off the bench.

Leverstock continued to apply pressure, and on 81 minutes a corner was only cleared as far as Harvey, just outside the box, and he struck a low first-time shot into the corner of the net past Thomas to put Green seemingly safe at 3-1. However, two minutes from time a Hillingdon corner resulted in a goalmouth scramble in which Victor Asombang stabbed the ball home to reduce the arrears to 3-2 and make it an uncomfortable finish for Green. They held on for the win, though, which keeps them ninth in the table with six games left to play.