Tuesday 15th September 2026
Isthmian League Premier Division – AFC Whyteleafe (H) 0-0
My one hundredth Tanners game – those two zeroes were probably an omen…
Whyteleafe arrived having secured their first win of the season over Stanway Rovers at the weekend. Tanners meanwhile were looking for their first league victory at The Grove since 11th August. With cup games filtering their way into the fixture list, and a few weeks of Saturday/Tuesday action coming up, Ian rotated the squad, and Bobby, Nathan and Marcel were all given starts. Initially lined up to accompany Fin on commentary, Matty was instead named in the squad, having been given the green light to start playing again after a thirteen-month absence. He didn’t make it onto the pitch, but that day is coming…
Our last goalless draw was almost a year ago on a drab night at Hartley Wintney. My notes for that one read, “Most boring game ever witnessed – HWFC are massive spoilers. Poor ‘hot dog’.” The quality here was much better, with both sides looking comfortable on the ball and playing some nice stuff at times. To state the obvious though, it lacked goals, and we didn’t get a sniff of a serious attempt at one until the thirty-eighth minute. Harry chased a long ball into the corner, before centring it for Nathan, whose back post effort was saved superbly by Slav Huk. We then survived a scare at the other end three minutes later after their man had got past Charlie on the right – his cut back found a teammate, but his shot was well blocked by Cam.
Halftime – Tanners 0, AFC Whyteleafe 0.
The second half was livelier, with Tanners playing some more expansive football. The fifty-fifth minute saw a well worked chance that started with Charlie intercepting a loose pass and bombing forward from his left back position. He moved the ball on to Kofi, who sprayed it across the pitch for Nathan to feed it into the right-hand channel for Bobby. His squared pass was briefly intercepted, but it ended up with Marcel. Sadly, his shot sailed high and wide. To add insult to injury, he was then booked two minutes later when sliding in to tackle the keeper who had strayed out of his box. It looked a fair challenge to me, but the keeper’s theatrics clearly convinced the ref that it had been worse than it was.
Tanners had a couple of half chances – Harry shot straight at the keeper after Nathan’s assist on sixty minutes, and although his sixty-sixth minute corner found Cam at the back post, it was just a little too high, and a little behind him, and the header went wide. This was the cue for a change, and Ian made a double sub – Jacob for Marcel, and Braiden for Nathan. An apparently injured Bobby then made way for Louie with quarter of an hour to go.
Kofi was presented with a good chance in the seventy-seventh minute, heading just wide from Dicko’s cross in from the right. ‘Leafe’s Ade Cole was then sent off for a second bookable offence with nine minutes to go, Tanners creating a chance from the resulting free kick, but Jacob couldn’t direct Harry’s delivery on target. Further half chances followed, but none resulted in the keeper being severely tested. For his part at the other end, I don’t remember Sonny having a save to make. Reading that back, it had nil-nil written all over it, and neither side can have many complaints about the result.
Fulltime – Tanners 0, AFC Whyteleafe 0.
The hunt for a home win continues, but tonight’s point was good enough to keep up us in seventh. In fact, results elsewhere make it very much a point gained – we’re just four points off the top! We take a break from league action at the weekend, travelling to Ashford in Middlesex to play Kingstonian from Surrey in the FA Cup second qualifying round. Let’s hope Jordy has one of his off days… COYT!
