Leatherhead 5 South Park (Reigate) 1
Ibrahim Olutade completed a sublime first half hat trick as Leatherhead demolished
South Park with a fine attacking display at Fetcham Grove on Saturday.
Tanners raced into a 4-1 first half lead before Trevan Robinson hit a superb fifth goal
after 54 minutes to secure another three points for the hosts.
South Park opened the scoring against the run of play after eight minutes. Craig
McGee took advantage of a communication error between goalkeeper Amadou
Tangara and the Leatherhead defence, intercepting on the edge of the penalty area
before calmly slotting home into an unguarded net.
Any hopes of a repeat of South Park’s emphatic Surrey Senior Cup win against
Leatherhead at Fetcham Grove last month were short-lived as the hosts drew level
two minutes later.
The ball was quickly fed forward to an advancing Olutade, who outpaced a Sparks’
defender before rounding goalkeeper Danny Bracken and scoring unchallenged from
six yards.
Robinson almost put Tanners in front four minutes later with a quick turn and shot
from the edge of the box. But Bracken pulled off an acrobatic save, leaping up like a
salmon to turn the ball over the bar and behind for a corner.
Leatherhead took the lead with another purposeful attack after 17 minutes.
The Sparks’ defence failed to clear a Kenny Beaney corner and Fikayo Atewologun
smashed the ball towards goal from the edge of the six-yard box. Bracken got a hand
to it, but there was too much power in the Leatherhead defender’s shot to prevent it
from crossing the line.
The rampant Tanners increased their lead after 22 minutes. Fabio Saraiva delivered a
probing cross into the box from the left and Olutade’s outstretched foot connected
with the ball at chest height, diverting it past Bracken and into the net.
McGee nearly pulled a goal back for South Park after 38 minutes, hitting a low shot
from distance to force a fine save from Tangara.
Leatherhead added a fourth goal three minutes later with another quick break in the
visitors’ half. Robinson’s low shot was half blocked by Bracken but Olutade was well
placed to latch onto the loose ball to fire home from close range.
Olutade had the ball in South Park’s net again in first half added time. But this time
his effort was ruled out after the referee’s assistant raised her flag for offside.
South Park threatened briefly at the start of the second half. Sam Tutt fired wide after
being put through on goal before McGee drilled another shot over the bar from the
edge of the area.
But it was all over as a contest after 54 minutes when Robinson fired home
Leatherhead’s fifth.
The Sparks defence were completely caught out when they failed to close down
Tanners’ leading goal scorer. Seeing Bracken off his line, an unmarked Robinson
drilled a powerful long range shot into the corner of the net.
With their four-goal advantage Leatherhead slowed the pace of the match for the final
half hour, maintaining possession but rarely posing any further threats in front of goal.
On 85 minutes Tyler Cox broke away down the left before squaring to Daniel Hector.
Leatherhead’s midfield maestro touched the ball on to an advancing Trey Masikini
who stabbed the ball towards goal, forcing another fine block from Bracken.
And so Leatherhead end March with a record of fifteen points from the five matches
played. But they go into April with the prospect of three challenging away fixtures
over the course of the opening six days.
First up is Monday’s local derby against Corinthian-Casuals, followed by Thursday’s
rearranged fixture at Badshot Lea before another tough match against fellow play-off
contenders Southall on Saturday.
Leatherhead: Amadou Tangara, Fikayo Atewologun, Fabio Saraiva (Alpha Diallo 52),
Jamie Splatt, Jerry Puemo, Tyler Cox, Daniel Hector, Kenny Beaney (Omarr Lawson
59), Ibrahim Olutade, Trevan Robinson (Trey Masikini 67), Gus Sow
South Park (Reigate): Danny Bracken, James McElligott, sam Tutt (Tom Smith 64),
Ryan Healy, William Grieveson, Cerny Ando, Sam King, Craig McGee, Deondre
Date (Courtney Swaby 57), Brendan Murphy-McVey (Ibrahim Bangura 64), Marco
Haigh