Farnham Town 2 Leatherhead 1
Leatherhead narrowly lost out against league leaders Farnham Town with a 2-1 defeat
at the Memorial Ground on Saturday.
Town opened up a two-goal lead midway through the opening half and looked more
than capable of building on that score line as the game progressed. But Tanners
pushed forward in the second half to grab a goal back in stoppage time, with the hosts
clinging on to their slender advantage at the final whistle.
Farnham started brightly with Adam Liddle testing Tanners keeper Sonny Wheeler
after two minutes with a turn and shot from the edge of the box.
Leatherhead responded well with Anuar Ceesay forcing a fine low save from former
Tanners keeper Zaki Oualah, who turned the ball around the post for a corner.
Farnham continued to threaten on the break and took an early lead on six minutes.
Jordan Gallagher broke clear down the left before crossing the ball into the box for
Liddle to head home past Wheeler.
Town almost doubled their advantage when Owen Dean burst through the heart of the
Tanners defence to force another fine save from Wheeler.
But it wasn’t long before Farnham added a second. On 21 minutes Owen Dean
effortlessly stole into the box from the right, sending a looping delivery across the
goalmouth for a simple tap in from Gallagher at the far post.
Town’s defence worked well to restrict the visitors going forward, although Tanners
went close to pulling a goal back on 31 minutes when a deflected shot from Ruben
Bartlett-Antwi looped over the top of the crossbar.
Leatherhead manager Ian Selley made three substitutions at half time with Alfie
Huckle, Cerny Ando and Ty Butler making way for Kareem Akinnibi, Kenny Beaney
and Rhys Murrell-Williamson.
Town continued to push forward confidently in the second half with Ben Purcell
firing a fierce shot straight to Wheeler and Owen Dean hitting the bar with another
close range effort.
Jordan Stepney forced an acrobatic save from Wheeler on 66 minutes, with the
Leatherhead keeper tipping the ball over the bar for a corner.
Tanners rarely got a look in at the other end with Town’s defence giving little away.
A long range shot from Leatherhead’s Marco Haigh was well blocked and Akinnibi’s
follow up effort lacked power, allowing Oualah to save comfortably.
But in the second minute of second half stoppage time Leatherhead’s Bartlet-Antwi
found room in the hosts’ penalty area to turn and hit the ball low past the diving
Oualah, squeezing it just inside the post, to reduce the arrears.
Town nearly restored their two-goal advantage straight from the restart with a wide-
angled shot from Great Evans striking the Tanners post.
Deep in added time Leatherhead had one final chance to snatch a share of the points.
Murrell-Williamson whipped in a thirty yard free kick towards goal, forcing another
fine block from Oualah before the ball was eventually cleared away to safety.
Farnham held out to maintain their nine point lead over second placed Kingstonian,
while the defeat sees Leatherhead remain in tenth place in the table.
Tanners are back in action at Fetcham Grove on Tuesday when they face Uxbridge in
a rearranged league match. Kick-off is at 7.45pm.
Farnham Town: Zaki Oualah, Joe Jackson, Jack Dean, Ryan Kinnane, Jordan
Stepney, Harry Cooksley (Gio Palmer 75), Ben Purcell (Kai Tanner 79), Darryl
Sanders (Mark Waters 75), Owen Dean, Jordan Gallagher (Great Evans 64), Adam
Liddle (Sam De St Croix 64)
Leatherhead: Sonny Wheeler, Anuar Ceesay (George Hedley 78), Niran Butler,
Kelvin Massango, Marco Haigh, Kane Fitzgerald, Ty Butler (Rhys Murrell-
Williamson 45), Cerny Ando (Kenny Beaney 45), Cameron Black (Alex Pearce 63),
Ruben Bartlett-Antwi, Alfie Huckle (Kareem Akinnibi 45)