Leatherhead 3 Abbey Rangers 1
Tanners advanced to the third round of the Surrey Senior Cup with an assured 3-1 win
against Abbey Rangers at Fetcham Grove on Tuesday.
Jamie Splatt opened the scoring for Leatherhead early in the second half before
former Tanners striker Daryl Cooper-Smith equalised with an audacious 35 yard lob
for the visitors. Omarr Lawson and Daniel Hector scored late goals for Leatherhead to
ensure the tie was not decided by penalties.
Tanners boss Hayden Bird gave a start to new signing Tommy Stagg and the 21 year
old former Colchester United striker made a great impression on his debut, providing
extra pace and non-stop movement in the hosts’ forward line.
Leatherhead dominated their Combined Counties League opponents in the opening
half. Gus Sow had the ball in the visitors’ net after seven minutes, but his effort was
ruled out for offside. Five minutes later Lawson missed a chance in front of goal,
firing over from close range.
Abbey Rangers always looked capable of creating chances on the break and they
managed to get the ball into Leatherhead’s net after a goalmouth scramble on 21
minutes. But before they were able to celebrate the referee’s assistant raised his flag
for offside.
Ollie Cook produced a fierce shot for Tanners three minutes later, forcing a fine save
from Rangers’ keeper Sam Gray, deflecting the ball away for a corner.
The visitors missed a chance to snatch the lead with a counter attack on 28 minutes.
Cooper-Smith drove forward, playing the ball on to Tyreke Leslie. But the Rangers
striker fired over from the edge of the penalty area.
Leatherhead pressed forward showing great drive and purpose for the rest of the half.
Stagg had a shot deflected for a corner and a powerful Hector effort flew a yard wide
of the post.
Tanners eventually broke the deadlock on 48 minutes. Splatt calmly weaved his way
past two Rangers defenders and struck the ball firmly through a crowded penalty area
into the corner of the net.
Leatherhead almost doubled their lead a minute later. Stagg moved down the left and
squared to Lawson in the middle who fired just wide of the post.
Tanners dominated possession for the next half hour, creating several opportunities to
add to their lead. Kenny Beaney fired wide on 60 minutes before Stagg forced another
low save from Gray and Hector hit another shot just wide of the post.
But on 79 minutes Rangers levelled with a superb strike from a former Tanners
favourite. Seeing Mikey Allen off his line, Cooper-Smith latched onto a loose
Leatherhead clearance and lobbed the ball high over the keeper and into the net to set
up a tense finale to this thrilling cup tie.
Tanners’ blushes were spared however, as Lawson restored the hosts’ lead within two
minutes with a great finish to beat Gray.
And with the tie moving into added time, Hector made sure with a firm strike from
the edge of the box into the corner of the net.
Leatherhead return to league action on Saturday with a trip to fellow promotion
contenders Marlow.
Leatherhead: Mikey Allen, Tyler Cox, Michael Elechi (Luther Williams 73), Fikayo
Atewologun (Junior Savane 73), Ollie Cook, Jamie Splatt (Kalani Barton 84), Gus
Sow, Kenny Beaney, Tommy Stagg (Trevan Robinson 84), Daniel Hector, Omarr
Lawson (Alpha Diallo 84)
Abbey Rangers: Sam Gray, Owen Davies, Dave Burnham (Spencer Maw 69),
Michael Obafemu (Jack Carrod 57), Danilo Cadete, Daryl Cooper-Smith, Tyreke
Leslie (Ryan MacLean 69), Aidan King, Jack Watts (George Frith 57), Joseph Apeni,
Roje Grant,