Chipstead 1 Leatherhead 2

Leatherhead made hard work of dispatching Chipstead with a narrow 2-1 win in this
Surrey Senior Cup First Round tie at High Road on Tuesday.

All three goals came within a six-minute window in the middle of the opening half.
Seb Karczewski opened the scoring for Tanners with a powerful header on 22 minutes
before Ben Jordan levelled for Chips four minutes later with a simple tap in.

Rhys Murrell-Williamson restored the visitors’ advantage within a couple of minutes
through a well-struck free kick from twenty-five yards.

Leatherhead started the tie with a full strength outfield against their Combined
Counties League hosts.

But it was Chipstead who produced the first shot on target after 12 minutes.
Emmanuel Robe launched an attack down the left before forcing a good save from
Leatherhead keeper Rileigh Hebditch with his long range effort.

Hebditch had to make a carbon copy save from Robe four minutes, as the Tanners
defence once again failed to close down the advancing Chips front man.

But any thoughts of an early upset were quelled after Leatherhead scored the opener.
Alex Laing sent a probing cross high into Chipstead’s penalty area and Karczewski
outjumped his marker to head home past goalkeeper Finnley Davenport.
Undeterred, Chips continued to press forward and duly equalised on 26 minutes.
Hebditch parried a long range Chipstead effort into Jordan’s path and he guided the
ball home from close range.
Chips joy was short-lived, however. Tanners quickly restored their one-goal
advantage after midfielder Marco Haigh was brought down just outside the hosts’
penalty-area.

With everyone expecting Murrell-Williamson to aim high, the experienced winger
instead struck the ball hard and low, finding the bottom corner of the net with a slight
deflection off a Chips defender.

Leatherhead’s Haigh went off injured after 38 minutes and was replaced by Tom
Kavanagh, who immediately took over the captain’s arm-band from stand-in skipper
Kane Fitzgerald.

Chips missed a chance to level the tie just before half-time. Jordan received the ball
with his back to goal on the edge of the Tanners penalty area and quickly spun around
before ballooning his shot high over the bar.

There was little in the way of goalmouth action in the second half, as Leatherhead
defended in numbers and blocked out the few chances created by the hosts.

Chipstead’s Cameron Lewis-Brown attempted a couple of shots from distance. But
the winger failed to find the target, with both of his efforts sailing harmlessly wide.
Defending the narrowest of leads, the visitors made the bold decision to throw on two
players from the Leatherhead youth team for the closing minutes of the tie.

Both Louie Prendergast and Ryley Merrett showed clear promise and ability in their
limited game time, as Tanners comfortably saw out the final minutes with no late
dramas.

Leatherhead return to league action on Saturday when they welcome Raynes Park
Vale to Fetcham Grove. Kick-off is at 3.00pm.

Chipstead: Finnley Davenport (Filip Chalupniczak 63), Evan Kelly, Peter
Wedgeworth, Archie Alexander, Rob Sheridan, Aaron Lamont, Cameron Lewis-
Brown, Tijani Eshilokun, Ben Jordan (Melford Simpson 60), Enrique Tiamuna,
Emmanuel Robe.

Leatherhead: Rileigh Hebditch, Kelvin Massango, Alfie Huckle, George Hedley, Alex
Laing (Ryley Merrett 76), Lucas Franzen-Jones (Louie Prendergast 63), Marco Haigh
(Tom Kavanagh 38), Kane Fitzgerald, Rhys Murrell-Williamson, Deondre Date, Seb
Karczewski.