Leatherhead 3 Badshot Lea 2
Leatherhead beat bottom of the table Badshot Lea 3-2 in a tense end-to-end thriller at
Fetcham Grove on Saturday.
Tanners were forced to start the match without a recognised central defender, with
Alex Pearce absent unwell and Niran Butler arriving late after being delayed by a
puncture on his inward car journey. George Hedley and Cerny Ando moved into the
centre of defence for Leatherhead joining Kelvin Massango in the back line.
Badshot Lea were adventurous pressing forward in the early exchanges. Joe Lewis
tested the hosts’ defence on 10 minutes with Tanners keeper Sonny Wheeler at full
stretch to palm away a sweeping cross from the former Aldershot Town striker.
Leatherhead responded with a quick counter attack. Deondre Date took the ball
forward to the edge of the visitors’ penalty area but was disposed by a Baggies
defender before he could release a shot.
Badshot Lea came within a whisker of opening the scoring on 15 minutes. Ibrahim
Busari picked out Finn Evans in the heart of Leatherhead’s penalty area but his firmly
driven shot was cleared off the line by Ando.
Play was briefly held up on 25 minutes when an advancing Busari collided with
Wheeler after the Tanners keeper dashed off his line to collect a loose ball near the
corner of his penalty area. Wheeler sustained a cut to his head and after a short delay
was replaced in goal by substitute keeper Rileigh Hebditch.
Leatherhead opened the scoring on the half hour mark. Lukas Franzen-Jones was
brought down wide on the left for a Tanners free kick. The ball was pumped deep into
the Baggies’ penalty area and Ando latched onto it to fire home from close range.
The visitors nearly levelled five minutes later when Evans pumped a cross into the
box from the left that just evaded an advancing Baback Dehghani.
Tanners doubled their advantage on 42 minutes. Skipper Tom Kavanagh squared to
Date on the edge of the visitors’ penalty area and, with an instinctive half turn, the
prodigal Leatherhead striker drilled a superb low shot into the corner of the net.
The Baggies pulled a goal back in first half stoppage time, with Evans creating room
in the box to hit a fine shot past Hebditch.
Butler arrived at the ground in time to come on for Leatherhead at the start of the
second half, replacing Jamarie Brissett. The towering Tanners centre back made an
almost immediate impact, scoring Leatherhead’s third on 51 minutes. A corner was
pumped into the visitors’ six yard box and Butler outmuscled his marker to bundle the
ball over the line.
Tanners continued to press forward, almost adding a fourth goal on 55 minutes.
Another corner was fired into the heart of visitors’ six yard box and Baggies midfielder Charlie George headed the ball onto his own crossbar before eventually
clearing it away to safety.
The visitors fought back. David Garlinge reduced the arrears to 3-2 on 61 minutes
with probably the best goal of the match. The young Baggies midfielder collected the
ball just inside Leatherhead’s half and advanced unopposed before rifling a fierce shot
past Hebditch into the corner of the net from ten yards out.
Opportunities were missed at both ends in the closing minutes. Leatherhead’s Ando
saw his goal bound shot somehow cleared off the line before the visitors missed two
separate chances to snatch an equaliser in stoppage time.
Evans was first denied by Hebditch in a desperate race to the ball. And then, with
what turned out to be the final kick of the match, the young Baggies striker fired a
dipping long range effort just over the top of the bar.
The win takes Leatherhead up two places to twelfth, with 26 points from 19 matches,
while Badshot Lea remain firmly rooted at the foot of the table with just eight points
from 20 matches.
Tanners are back in league action on Monday evening when they travel to Binfield.
Kick-off is at 7.45pm.
Leatherhead: Sonny Wheeler (Rileigh Hebditch 26), Anuar Ceesay, Kelvin Manuel
Massango, George Hedley (Louie Prendergast 80), Tom Kavanagh, Kane Fitzgerald,
Rhys Murrell-Williamson (Ruben Bartlett-Antwi 74), Deondre Date, Lukas Franzen-
Jones (Alfie Huckle 66), Cerny Ando, Jamarie Brissett (Niran Butler 46)
Badshot Lea: Harry Cawdron, Sammy Yabani, Ibrahim Busari, George Winkworth,
Joseph Throp (Theo White 80), David Garlinge, Joe Lewis, Babeck Dehghani (Dawid
Hamiga 72), Finn Evans, Kai Allsopp (Charlie George 46), Aitor Andon (Eden
Downes 58)