Neasden’s dream of reaching Anfield are over for another season as they were eventually well beaten by Comet Sports in a lunchtime kick-off at Hadley FC.

A talented young side who won last year’s Berkhamsted Sunday League, Neasden refused to give Comet Sports any time on the ball early on, and their ploy of having three men in the centre harrying the opposition gave Neasden the early edge.

Pressure told on 20 minutes when a Jake Gottlieb floated free-kick from the right was headed against the bar by Lee Cash before being headed back into his own net by a Comet Sports defender.

But all NWN’s good work came undone as they were caught cold time and again.

NWN manager Jamie Cole said: “I told them at half-time to see out the first 15 minutes, but we conceded straight away and made error after error. We threw away our excellent first half performance with poor errors in the second.

“To be fair to Comet Sports, they came here and played very well but we gave them goals, which is extremely frustrating.”

Comet Sports coach Dan Meaney commented: “I think we were more focussed in the second half and that made the difference. We managed to get to grips with them and used our fitness and speed to good effect.”

NWN: Max Shields, Jake Gottlieb, Elliott Stern (sub: TJ Keterman), Bradley Sharp, Sammy Ross, Kyle Bentwood, Jon Ellis, Elliot Green, Matt Sofier (sub: George Fierstone), Shai Revivo, Andy Glynne, Danny Daggers, Rob Lerner (sub: Yarlett), Lee Cash