By Theo Beevers
Loughborough Dynamo remain winless away from home after a tightly contested 1-0 defeat to Leek Town at Harrison Park.
Chris Baker’s 74th-minute goal was all that separated the sides in the end in what was an end to end battle for long periods of the game, with both sides cancelling each other out for a large portion of the game.
Despite the defeat, Dynamo showed major improvements from their last home game against Ilkeston, which ended 5-0, with manager Lee Attenborough opting for a more defensive approach: “Its definite progress […] we focused on getting men behind the ball” said Attenborough in his post-match comments.
Attenborough’s side were hoping to take the momentum from their convincing 2-0 win over Kidsgrove Athletic into this one, and they certainly took aspects of that winning performance into this game as the manager saying that his team “looked very difficult to beat” throughout the game despite losing.
The Moes started the game well and had the first chance of the game as Alex Steadman flashed a pass across the six-yard box which entered the path of the skipper, Rob Norris, who couldn't connect with the ball for what looked to be a clear goalscoring chance.
It was then Leek’s turn to go close to scoring as their captain, Darren Chadwick, struck the bar with his diving header off the corner. It was then a scramble to get the ball clear for Dynamo, and eventually they did to make sure it stayed 0-0.
Jason Alexander was in top form to stop Leek from scoring in the first half, saving efforts from both Tim Grice and Baker, in what was a brilliant display on his part.
The final chance of the half was for the hosts though Robert Stevenson as he created some space for himself and curled his effort just wide of the right post.
The Moes only had a handful of chances in the first-half, but what was most impressive was the clear improvements defensively and structurally from the game against Ilkeston, which were positive signs heading into the break.
As they did in the first period, Dynamo started the half on the front foot, as they hit the crossbar within the first minute of resuming play with visitors already showing more intent to grab a goal with the result in the balance and that first away win insight.
The rain came down rather intensely in the second-half and it affected the state of play, as neither team were able to grab hold of possession for long periods for a good portion of the half.
Surprisingly, club captain, Norris was subbed off just after the hour mark by Attenborough and when asked why he did this he responded with: “He’s [Norris} ill, so after 60 minutes we were feeling like he had a bit of fatigue and couldn’t carry on so we had to make the change.”
Despite this, the spectators at Harrison Park were witness to a couple of frantic minutes around 70 minutes into the game, as Demidh had his deflected shot from the left-hand side of the box denied by the fingertips of Roberts. Then, the home side went up the other end and Stevenson saw his strike smack the crossbar at the end of a swift counterattack.
The only goal came with just over 15 minutes to go, as Baker slotted in a low driven pass across the box from Grice to give Leek town the lead, and put the Moes on course for another away defeat.
The effort shown from Loughborough could not be questioned as they pushed hard for an equaliser, however, Leek managed to see out the game to move two points from the top spot. For as much as Dynamo tried to grab an equaliser, they lacked the bodies going forward to challenge the Leek backline.
As for the Moes, it's another tough result away from home, although due to other results and postponements, they remain in 10th position, with their minds now set on the rearranged Integro Cup fixture with Mickleover Sports at the Don Amott Arena on Tuesday 19th November.