Leatherhead 2 Hartley Wintney 3
Hartley Wintney stunned an out of sorts Leatherhead with three unanswered first half goals before Tanners struck back twice in the second half to set up tense finish at Fetcham Grove on Saturday.
Any hopes of a repeat of the last weekend’s dominant FA Cup win at Sevenoaks Town were soon dashed as Leatherhead failed to test the visitors in a one-sided opening half.
The Row showed their intentions early with a series of penetrating attacks in the
opening twenty minutes. Jack Penton had a strong appeal for a penalty waved away by the referee on three
minutes before Aderi Dede headed over Lamar Koroma’s probing cross from the edge of the box.
Hartley Wintney’s pressure in Leatherhead’s half paid off with a finely executed
opening goal on 20 minutes. George Winser’s looping free kick was met by a powerful George Wallace header that flew past goalkeeper Sonny Wheeler.
The Tanners defence were caught off guard again four minutes later as the visitors doubled their lead.
Reece Wylie was given sufficient room to advance with the ball unchallenged before he picked out Ellis Orsborn on the edge of the box for a stunning one-touch finish.
The Row continued to dominate possession in the run up to half-time. Wylie missed a chance to add a third goal for the visitors on 39 minutes, ballooning a shot high over the bar from the corner of the penalty area.
But an unchallenged Dede gave the visitors a three-goal advantage two minutes later. The former Corinthian-Casuals striker ran with the ball unchallenged to the edge of the box before firing a rasping shot into the roof of the net.
With a three-goal deficit, Leatherhead manager Ian Selley made some key changes to his young side for the second half as Matt Everitt, Alfie Huckle and Marco Haigh all made way for Kane Fitzgerald, Trey Masikini and Seb Karczewski.
The fresh pace of Fitzgerald and Masikini plus Karczewski’s strong presence in the box provided an extra dimension to the Tanners’ attack, with the hosts looking far more purposeful pressing forward in the second half.
Tanners pulled a goal back on 59 minutes. Skipper Tom Kavanagh floated a corner into the heart of the visitors’ penalty area and centre back Niran Butler rose unchallenged to head home from close range.
And on 82 minutes, debutant Karczewski further reduced the arrears. A quick burst of pace saw the ball fed out wide on the right to Fitzgerald, who squared a pass into the box for an advancing Karczewski to score from five yards out.
But in their desperate search for a late equaliser Tanners left themselves more and more exposed in their own half.
The Row exploited gaps in Leatherhead’s defence with a series of counter-attacks in the closing minutes, missing a hatful of chances to score a fourth goal, thanks largely to a series of fine saves from Wheeler.
Winser, George Britton and Sam Bartlett all tested the Tanners custodian with a string of powerful shots but without managing to add to the final score line.
Leatherhead return to league action on Monday when they visit Selley’s former club Westfield. Kick-off at Woking Park is at 12.30pm.
Leatherhead: Sonny Wheeler, Kwesi Ntim, Kelvin-Manuel Massango, Niran Butler,
George Hedley, Marco Haigh (Trey Masikini 45), Alfie Huckle (Seb Karczewski 45),
Tom Kavanagh, Deondre Date, Matt Everitt (Kane Fitzgerald 40, Anuar Ceesay (Alex
MacAllister 67)
Hartley Wintney: Henry Poole, Ellis Orsborn (George Britton 81), George Wallace
(Alex Merrifield 66), Aaron Burchett, Tom Drinkwater, George Winser, Jack Penton,
Lamar Koroma, Charlie Postance, Aderi Dede (Sam Bartlett 81), Reece Wylie