Ware made great efforts to promote this game and were rewarded with a crowd of over fifteen hundred. They will hope that at least some of the first time or occasional visitors to Wodson Park will have been encouraged to come more regularly.

That hope could have been given strength by a Ware victory but it was not to be on a day when North Leigh’s close marking held a tight grip on the home side for much of the game. Throw in two “out of the blue” goals and a third from Jefferson Louis all at crucial moments in the game and you have the basis of North Leigh’s ability to turn this game into a deserved victory. Their reward is promotion to the Southern League premier division.

The signs were there from the beginning as Ware threw everything into attack only to run into dead ends in the final third as players were closed down and isolated. This only made free kicks and corners all the more enticing as opportunities and both centre backs came up for these.

It was a dangerous choice as North Leigh were quick to break and exploited Roger James’ speed and ability on the right. As early as the ninth minute Aaron Heap had grazed the outside of Brad Robinson’s right goal post and two minutes later James was free to hit the inside of the same post. This time the ball bounced back across the goal and was gathered by the grateful Robinson. Eventually Taufee Skandari and Liam Dulson exchanged wings presumably, it seemed, to add Dulson's efforts to support Jay Lovell’s task of containing James’s effect.

Ware did have their chances, the best of which in the first half was Liam Hope’s shot across the face of Adam North’s goal which caught the keeper stranded but glad to see the ball go narrowly wide of his left post. So, two teams which had failed to score against each other in their two regular season meetings looked to be heading for another goalless half and the chance, at least for Ware, to sort out a different approach to the game.

That changed five minutes before the break when the home side repelled an attack and cleared the ball out and beyond their penalty area. Waiting there was George Nash who didn’t hesitate and volleyed the ball unerringly into the top corner of Robinson’s net. It was a terrific goal, one reminiscent of Tom Bruno’s similar strike into the same goal against Kempston Rovers back in November. It was also Nash’s first in the league.

If Ware were looking to rest control from North Leigh in the second half and take the lead as they had done against Bedford in a similar situation they were soon to be disappointed. Four minutes after the break a ball out to the visitors’ right found Aaron McCreadie who wasted hardly any more time than Nash before blasting the ball beyond Robinson to double his side’s lead from outside the penalty area.

Ware may have been kicking down the slope towards the home end but now they faced an uphill struggle. It is tempting to say that North Leigh were now happy to let Ware come at them and certainly the Blues were trying everything to break down their defence. Two minutes after going behind one shot was again narrowly wide of goal but Adam North was not having much to deal with other than high balls into the six yard area which he claimed easily.

Meanwhile the Millers were looking comfortable and still willing to break up field giving the final outcome of the game an air of inevitability. Yet Ware once again showed their willingness to battle in apparently hopeless situations and after Skandari had had two chances to reduce the arrears, one wide, the other saved, they had their reward.

With just five minutes of normal time remaining a Tom Bruno corner from the left reached Albert Adu who, after the game’s frustration and dead ends for Ware, simply glanced the ball into the net as if it were no trouble at all. It was no more than Adu deserved following another excellent performance. It also opened up a hectic goal scoring period.

Three minutes later a Josh Williams cross from the right to beyond the goal was headed back by Leigh Rose to his brother Louis then back to Tyriq Hunte and on into the centre of the six yard area where Liam Dulson cracked it home to spark an eruption of sound. Somehow, though not for the first time this season, Ware had pulled themselves back into contention and surely the impetus was now with them.

Well, not quite, and the last words were with Jefferson Louis who had come off the substitutes bench after an hour, perhaps for just such an eventuality. By now Ware had gone to three at the back to boost their attack but it left room for the big man who has had over 40 different clubs in both league and non-league football and scored goals for most of them if not all.

He did it again five minutes into added time, judging his position and size perfectly to outjump Robinson and Dave Kendall to nod in a ball from Nash. Ware now threw everything into attack but were almost inevitably caught out four minutes later when Jefferson broke free with only Robinson to beat and slid the ball past the keeper to make it four. It was the first time this season that Ware have conceded more than three goals and meant that two teams who couldn’t score against each other in their regular league meetings had just found the net four times in fifteen minutes.

North Leigh will now be plying their trade at Step 3 and we wish them well. For Ware, next season will be another campaign to follow them out of Step 4.

Ware: Brad Robinson, Marcus Milner, Jay Lovell (Tyriq Hunte 84mins), Leigh Rose, Louis Rose, Dave Kendall, Liam Dulson, Tom Bruno, Liam Hope (Josh Williams 60mins), Albert Adu, Taufee Skandari (Robbie Buchanan 77mins). Unused subs: James Mulley, Rechan Esprit.