Burgeoning Barton defeat Leighton Town in Bedfordshire derby

Barton Rovers continued their storming start to the Calor Southern League Division One Central season with a hard-fought 2-0 home derby victory over home Bedfordshire neighbours Leighton Town at Sharpenhoe Road on Monday thanks to Nat Peacock’s brace.

Manager Dan Kennoy made just one change from Saturday’s win at Beaconsfield as he included Bilal Hassan in the starting line-up with Jermaine Hall dropping to the bench.

Matt Kenneford, meanwhile, replaced the suspended Keshi Anderson after the young forward opened his account in Saturday’s win.

Leighton got 10 men behind the ball from the kick off, leaving Ben Gallant as their lone player in attack.

This gave Rovers some problems and made the middle of the park very congested and disrupted the home side’s fluency.

In a half of few chances Rovers took the lead five minutes before the break.

Tommy Hull picked out Ricky Case who forced a good save and Peacock was first to react first as he nodded home the rebound.

Rovers came out for the second half with more gusto and went in search of the second goal to kill the game off.

Their first opportunity fell to Case from Peacock’s knockdown, but the midfielder couldn’t adjust his feet quickly enough.

Former Biggleswade Town midfielder Alex O’Brien was introduced as his long-range strike skimmed the post on 70 minutes.

Rovers were given a wake-up call when the recovering Liam McDevitt had to clear a delicate chip off the line as the home side kept a third successive clean sheet.

And they made sure of victory on 81 minutes when O’Brien set Hassan off down the right and the former Leighton player unselfishly squared past the onrushing keeper for Peacock to unconventionally slot home as Barton made it three wins and a draw from their opening four matches.

Kennoy added: “I’m delighted with the lads today, arguably our best win because we had to dig deep while not playing especially well.

“You need to pick up ugly wins like this over the season if your going to achieve anything.”

Barton entertain Ampthill Town in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup on Saturday and are home to Aylesbury in the league on Tuesday.

Attendance: 135.