At Home With The Crows
At Home With The Crows: The Reds of Leighton Town FC
Crows v Leighton Town FC
Tuesday 26th February 2013 Kick Off 7:45pm
Evo-Stik League Southern Central Division One
After last Saturday’s performance, the mighty Crows will be looking to bounce back quickly against the Reds of Leighton Town FC.
Leighton, of give the town it’s full name, Leighton Buzzard is a sleepy Bedfordshire Ville lies in the footholds of the Chiltern Hills.
Question for you… What is the best thing out of Leighton Buzzard, the answer is the Grand Union Canal, which was opened there.
Famous residents include Kriss Akabusi, Darren Gough and “you know what I mean ‘Arry” Frank Bruno.
Leighton Buzzard are to blame for foisting the group Kajagoogoo onto us. Remember them! The lead singer went on to sing that very famous hit “Never Ending Story”…. Tra la la tra la la tra la la (it’s in my head now and won’t go away!)
HISTORY
They were formed in 1885, remember the year? L A Thompson patented the World’s first Roller Coaster! I digress though, “The Reds” won the Leighton and District league on 9 occasions and then became founder members of the South Midlands League in 1922.
They changed their name to Leighton United FC in this year, a change that lasted until 1963. Unusually they had dual membership with the Spartan League but the only success were two titles in 1924 and 1928.
In 1952 they then decided to try their luck in the Hellenic League, but after two unproductive years they returned to the South Midlands League. They stayed there until 1966 and after finishing bottom they returned to the Spartan League. This was followed by a two year spell in the United Counties League. Crikey, they do like to chop and choose!
They then transferred into the South Midlands League winning the title in 1992. The club then stepped up into the Isthmian League where our paths crossed 4 times in 2 years.
In 1996 the club won another promotion finishing second behind Horsham. The Reds stay in this division ended in 2001finishing second bottom, with just 32 points on the board. In 2004 they won the renamed Isthmian League Division 2, pipping Dorking by 2 points. Reorganisation in that same year saw the club placed into the Southern League which they remain in to this day.
2011 saw “The Reds” have their most successful season in this league, finishing in 7th place with 19 league wins.
Their Season So Far
It has all gone horribly wrong for the Reds since the end of last year. Manager Craig Wells and most of the first team squad left due to non-payment of wages. Leighton are reliant on their youngsters. Where have we heard this before this season! At one point there were concerns that fixtures would not be met. However, to their credit, the Reds have battled on and we should salute them for that. Falling gates and that the local media seems to have given up on writing match reports on the club does not help their cause.
This year is not pretty reading, in the 10 games played since the turn of the year, there has been 9 defeats with a solitary away victory at Fleet Town. The Reds defence has been breached 26 times and they have scored 3 goals. So an easy evening in store for the Crows. Do not count your chickens me thinks!
Ones to Watch
Goalkeeper Sam Mazurek joined Leighton Town from North Greenford United last year. We came up against young Sam in our encounter against NGU FC, he produced in his managers words “one of the best goal keeping displays in ages!” Let’s hope he does not repeat the act on Tuesday.
Signed in 2010, midfielder Sean Bishop is not scared to go forward, indeed two of the three goals scored by the Reds this year has come from the boot of this lad.
The Gaffer
Currently without a permanent manager, Coach Paul Copson has been given the unenviable job of steadying the ship. I chatted to him at our away fixture and the chap really knows his football and a very decent bloke. Joined the club in 2005, he is highly regarded by the board at Leighton Town.
Have We Met Before
We have met 5 times in the league and twice in the FA Cup. We drew 2-2 at Bell Close in 2002 before hammering them 3-0 at Garden Walk.
Our fixture earlier on in the season, saw the Crows snatch a very unlikely point after a bad tempered match where Russell Bull nearly lost his head in an on the pitch incident! The Reds took the lead on 70 minutes and were looking home and dry as Royston resorted to the long ball game. On the 94 minute, Will Norris caused panic in the home defence with his over head kick, the ball fell kindly to Mat Standen who smashed home.
Jez Izod
