Leatherhead 1 Hanworth Villa 1
Leatherhead and Hanworth Villa shared the points in an entertaining end-to-end tussle
at Fetcham Grove on Saturday.
Kyen Nicholas put Villa in front with a smart finish after 14 minutes before Trevan
Robinson stabbed home Leatherhead’s equaliser three minutes before half-time.
Villa set out to attack the hosts at every opportunity and were always quick to break
from inside their own half.
Sam Merson forced a fine low save from Tanners keeper Mikey Allen on seven
minutes before Nicholas snatched the lead for the visitors with a finely executed
counter attack.
The powerful striker beat his Leatherhead marker at the half way line and ran on
unchallenged before calmly drilling the ball past Allen from the edge of the box.
Tanners had a chance to hit back on 32 minutes, winning a free kick near the corner of
Villa’s penalty area. But Fabio Saraiva was unable to loft the ball over the visitors’
defensive wall and Villa were able to clear.
The visitors should have punished Leatherhead with a second goal a minute later
when Nicholas again broke clear of his marker before firing into the side netting from
a tight angle.
Tanners created a fine opening on 38 minutes. Robinson broke away on the right side
of the box and delivered a high ball across the goalmouth to the far post. Ollie Cook
skilfully nodded it down into the middle of Villa’s six yard box, but could find no one
in a green shirt following up to put the ball away.
Leatherhead eventually broke through the visitors’ defence to score a brilliant
equaliser on 41 minutes. Omarr Lawson pumped a high ball across the Villa penalty
area from the left. Robinson judged the flight of the ball to perfection, volleying home
from five yards out.
The second half was a much scrappier affair than the first and chances at either end
were few and far between. Lawson forced a good save from Villa keeper Terry Buss
on 72 minutes in one of Leatherhead’s rare shots on target.
Formers Tanners wing-back Louis Collins was fortunate to only receive a yellow card
for a crunching late challenge on Tyler Cox, as tackles started flying in hard and fast
from both sides.
Villa missed a golden chance to grab a stoppage time winner after capitalising on a
rare mistake in Leatherhead’s defence. Allen took too long to clear the ball from the
edge of his penalty area and lost possession, with the ball eventually running out to an
advancing Sam Mead.
But the Villa sub lashed out at the ball, firing over the bar from eighteen yards out
when a calm low strike was all that was required.
The draw sees Leatherhead dip from third to fourth place in the table, equal on points
with Southall, who won at home against Hartley Wintney.
Tanners return to league action at Fetcham Grove on Boxing Day with a local derby
against Corinthian-Casuals. Kick-off is at 3.00pm.
Leatherhead: Mikey Allen, Jamie Splatt (Luther Williams 89), Michael Elechi, Fikayo
Atewologun, Ollie Cook, Kenny Beaney, Fabio Saraiva (Tommy Stagg 76), Ghas
Sow (Tyler Cox 45), Trevan Robinson, Daniel Hector, Omarr Lawson
Hanworth Villa: Terry Buss, Kyron Richards, Louis Collins (Bruno Robertson-Tingel
86), Guy Ansah-Palmer, Oladimeji Olajuba, Matthew Gbio, Gagendeep Samra,
Seanen McKillop (Sam Mead 76), Kyen Nicholas (Ben Merson 62), Ben Geraghty,
Sam Merson