Westfield 3 Leatherhead 1
Leatherhead bowed out of the FA Trophy with a low key performance against
Westfield.
Tanners took a third minute lead and looked composed pressing forward
until the hosts equalised against the run of play six minutes later.
Thereafter there was little response from Leatherhead, with the visitors rarely
threatening Westfield going forward.
The hosts grabbed the lead with a well-worked set-piece second goal before half-time
and with Tanners chasing for an equaliser, Westfield killed off any remaining threat
from the visitors with a well-executed third goal on 76 minutes.
Leatherhead opened the scoring with less than three minutes played with a stunning
strike from Tyler Cox. Trevan Robinson collected the ball on the edge of Westfield’s
penalty area and fed it out to Cox on his left. The Tanners wing back saw a gap
between goalkeeper Sonny Wheeler and his near post and calmly stroked the ball
beyond the keeper’s reach.
The hosts gave Tanners the opportunity to repeat the same move two minutes later.
Once again Robinson won the ball down the middle and picked out Cox to his left.
But this time Wheeler made up for his earlier mistake, making a fine save to deny the
former Sutton Common Rovers skipper a second goal.
Westfield struck back quickly with an equaliser on nine minutes. Andrew Crossley
pumped a long ball into the Tanners’ penalty area and a defender sliced it past
goalkeeper Mikey Allen for an unfortunate own goal. The referee briefly consulted
with his assistant to check for a possible foul on a Leatherhead player before
confirming the goal.
Westfield doubled their lead on 37 minutes after Jake Baxter went down outside
Tanners’ penalty area to win a free kick. Crossley delivered the ball to the far post,
from where it was headed back across the goal to an unmarked Baxter for a close
range finish.
Kalani Barton had a chance to level for Tanners just before half time with a one on
one against Wheeler, but his powerful strike was well blocked by the keeper.
Leatherhead failed to raise the tempo of the tie in the second half and were duly
punished by a breakaway third goal for the hosts on 76 minutes.
With too many players committed deep in Westfield’s half, Tanners lost possession
and the ball was fed through to Mayowa Adaje. The powerful Westfield sub raced
forward, outsprinting the Leatherhead defence before firing a blistering shot into the
back of the net.
Westfield almost added a fourth goal deep in stoppage time. Adaje played a cross in
from the left which just evaded the outstretched boot of an advancing Marlon Walsh
in front of goal.
Tanners will have to put the disappointment of this result behind them quickly as they
move on to face promotion-seeking rivals Chertsey Town in a top of the table clash at
Fetcham Grove on Tuesday.
Westfield: Sonny Wheeler, Archy Taylor, Billy Nutbeam, Alfie Huckle, Luke Elliott,
Manolis Gogonas, Theo White (Mayowa Adaje 73), Andrew Crossley (Caleb Wright
67), Jacob Breckon (Marlon Walsh 85), Jake Baxter, Junior Da Cruz
Leatherhead: Mikey Allen, Kalani Barton (Luther Williams 73), Tyler Cox, Michael
Elechi (Trey Masikini 60), Ollie Cook, Fikayo Atewologun (Jamie Splatt 60), Gus
Sow, Fabio Saraiva, Trevan Robinson, Daniel Hector, Omarr Lawson