Harrow Borough 2 Leatherhead 2
Harrow Borough scored a late stoppage time penalty to deny Leatherhead three points
at The Rogers Family Stadium on Saturday.
Tanners were just two minutes away from securing a valuable win before Leo Sery’s
spot kick allowed Borough to salvage a point for a 2-2 draw.
Leatherhead opened the scoring on 21 minutes after Alex Laing was fouled just
outside the hosts’ penalty area. Alfie Huckle latched onto Matt Everitt’s well struck
free kick to tuck the ball past goalkeeper Andrew McCorkell from close range.
Within a minute of falling behind Harrow’s Jordan Hamilton-Olise forced a smart
save from Tanners keeper Sonny Wheeler, who turned the fiercely driven shot behind
for a corner.
But four minutes later Sery was well placed to grab an equaliser for the hosts. The
Borough striker’s initial shot was blocked by a Leatherhead defender, but the ball
rebounded in an ideal position for Sery to fire home at the second attempt.
Tanners responded with Anuar Ceesay hitting a long range effort straight to
McCorkell before Tom Kavanagh tested the Harrow keeper with a low free kick.
At the other end Wheeler made a great effort to block Sery’s rasping shot from
outside the box. Borough missed another chance to take a half-time lead when Dernell
Wynter latched onto a loose clearance from a Leatherhead defender to force another
fine save from Wheeler.
Just before the interval, Leatherhead’s Laing was denied by McCorkell after the
much-travelled winger skipped past two Harrow defenders before unleashing a
powerful shot at goal.
In the second half Tanners pressed forward into Borough’s half with renewed
determination to restore their lead. The hosts conceded five corners in as many
minutes but the visitors were unable to find a way past Harrow’s well organised
defence.
After the fifth of those corners, and with several Leatherhead players trailing deep
inside Borough’s half, Sery and Hamilton-Olise launched a breakaway counter-attack,
with Wyntner forcing a close range save from Wheeler.
Tanners restored their one-goal advantage on the hour mark after they were awarded a
free kick thirty yards from the hosts’ goal. Kavanagh waited patiently to line up his
shot before striking a sublime effort beyond McCorkell’s reach and into the back of
the net.
Harrow fought back. On 66 minutes a goal-bound effort was cleared off the line by
Leatherhead defender Kelvin Massango. And with six minutes of normal time
remaining Borough’s James Gurteen struck a free kick just wide of the post.
Tanners tried to run down the clock by making a couple of late substitutions, but were
eventually undone in the fourth minute of added time by a clumsy last ditch challenge
in the box.
Harrow’s Jethro Odumoso burst into the visitors’ penalty area and got clear of
Leatherhead’s Jude Jeffrey. But the young defender caught hold of his shoulder, the
forward went down and, without hesitation, the referee blew for a penalty.
Sery stepped forward and clinically struck the spot kick low to Wheeler’s left to
rescue a point for the hosts.
The draw leaves Leatherhead precariously positioned in the bottom four of the league
on five points from seven matches, albeit with games in hand on most of the teams
above them, while Harrow Borough remain in second place behind leaders Farnham
Town.
Tanners return to league action on Tuesday when they host newly-promoted Rayners
Lane. Kick-off at Fetcham Grove is at 7.45pm.
Harrow Borough: Andrew McCorkell, Javon Marquis (Kai Hamilton-Olise 72),
Deago Dunbar-Bonnie (Jethro Odumoso 86), Addison Garnett, Sptephan Langley,
James Gurteen, Carl Stewart, Luke Ifil, Dernell Wynter, Leo Sery, Jordan Hamilton-
Olise (Mack Miskin 86)
Leatherhead: Sonny Wheeler, Kelvin Manuel Massango, Alex Laing (Jude Jeffrey
87), Niran Butler, Ollie Cook, Alex Pearce, Alfie Huckle Tom Kavanagh, Anuar
Ceesay (Lukas Franzen-Jones 55), Matt Everitt, Deondre Date (Marco Haigh 89)