Leatherhead 1 Ashford Town (Middx) 0
Kenny Beaney’s first half stoppage time penalty was all that separated Leatherhead
and Ashford Town (Middx) as the hosts welcomed former boss Luke Tuffs and his
squad to Fetcham Grove on Saturday.
Leatherhead manager Hayden Bird made one change to the team that so convincingly
beat Met Police at Imber Court seven day earlier with Tyler Cox coming in for
Michael Elechi on the left.
Tanners dominated possession throughout, restricting Ashford to a handful of half-
chances across the ninety minutes. But for all their dominance on the ball,
Leatherhead found the visitors a very hard team to break down in the final third.
On 25 minutes Cox jinked his way past two defenders to get down to the by-line
before sending a well delivered cross into the box for Alpha Diallo. But the Tanners
wing back was unable to produce sufficient power or direction with his header and the
ball was quickly scrambled away to safety.
Tommy Stagg tested Ashford keeper Toby Mawer with a long range effort on 38
minutes.
Mawer went down injured a couple of minutes later while gathering up a Beaney
corner. Following a short delay for an on the pitch assessment, Mawer was replaced in
goal by outfield defender Alex Stingelin.
The visitors’ misfortune was compounded moments later when they conceded a
penalty in the run up towards half-time. Substitute Adam Poynter rashly grabbed at
Stagg’s arm in the box under the referee’s watchful eye, who immediately blew his
whistle and pointed to the spot.
Beaney stepped up and calmly struck the penalty to the new keeper’s right to give
Tanners a fortuitous half-time lead.
Leatherhead continued to hold onto the ball in the second half, but made little
progress in their efforts to break down Ashford’s stubborn defence.
Stingelin was rarely tested in goal. Stagg struck the bar with a long range effort on 61
minutes before Fikayo Atewologun headed over from another Beaney corner four
minutes later.
On 80 minutes Stingelin bravely came off his line to deny Diallo in a race to the ball
at the edge of the penalty area. And the stand-in keeper did well again a couple of
minutes later to block Fabio Saraiva’s low struck shot.
Ashford offered little going forward in the closing exchanges, with the referee playing
three minutes of added time before blowing the final whistle.
Results and postponements elsewhere in the division went in Leatherhead’s favour
and the three points take them up one place to third in the table.
Tanners welcome play-off contenders Badshot Lea to Fetcham Grove on Tuesday
evening in a re-arranged league fixture. Kick-off is at 7.45pm.
Leatherhead: Mikey Allen, Alpha Diallo, Tyler Cox, Fikayo Atewologun, Ollie Cook,
Luther Williams, Fabio Saraiva, Kenny Beaney, Tommy Stagg (Trevan Robinson 67),
Daniel Hector (Gus Sow 85), Trey Masikini (Omarr Lawson 67)
Ashford Town (Middx): Toby Mawer (Adam Poynter 44), Nathan Rogers, Scott Day,
Alex Stingelin, Ed McCrea, Aaron Goode, Sam Sesay, Harry Woodward (Kailan
North 23), Qasim Khan, Deven Reid-Solanki (Jerry Frimpong 79), Ben Holder