FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round Replay
Phoenix Sports 0 Leatherhead 3
Leatherhead eased their way through Monday night’s FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round replay securing a comfortable 3-0 win against Phoenix Sports at the Christopher Russell Stadium.
Tanners made two changes from Saturday’s starting line-up, with Mark Waters and James McLeod coming in to replace Isaac Olaniyan and Kareem Akinnibi.
Leatherhead made a much more positive start to the replay than in Saturday’s initial encounter. Sam De St Croix fired an early long range effort over the bar before Lucas Franzen-Jones missed a chance open the scoring on ten minutes, intercepting the ball from a Sports defender before hitting the post in a one on one against goalkeeper Sam Freeman.
Tanners continued to press forward. A Waters header was pushed away by Freeman, only for Ross Stepney to fire the loose ball over the bar from close range.
Leatherhead’s pressure paid off with an opening goal on 17 minutes. Hogan received a cross from his left before squeezing a low shot past Freeman from eighteen yards.
Phoenix missed an opportunity to draw level on 26 minutes following a strong counter attack involving Jerson Dos Santos and Dom Morgan-Griffiths. Dos Santos picked out Tyler Anderson with a fine cross to the far post, but the former Beckenham Town winger headed over from close range.
In first half stoppage time, Leatherhead’s Hogan and Anas Igozouln went close with
close range efforts blocked by the Sports defence.
The visitors continued to dominate play in the second half and doubled their advantage on 56 minutes. Phoenix failed to clear a Hogan free kick and Sam De StCroix latched onto the loose ball to fire low past the keeper.
Leatherhead had fortune on their side for their third goal. A Sports defender went down after a challenge from a Tanners player. With half of the home team stopping momentarily to appeal for a free kick, the unimpressed referee waved play on. Hogan took full advantage, firing low past the keeper to give the visitors an unassailable three goal lead.
Substitutes Akinnibi and Tyrell Butler missed further late chances to increase Leatherhead’s lead.
The only downside to an otherwise very satisfactory Tanners performance was a serious looking shoulder injury to midfielder Olaniyan, sustained in the final minute of normal time.
Monday’s win means Leatherhead will host Westfield in a Preliminary Round tie at Fetcham Grove on 16 August. Meanwhile Tanners will be able to make an early assessment of their next FA Cup opponents when they travel to Westfield for the opening league fixture of the season at Woking Park on Saturday.
Phoenix Sports: Sam Freeman, Jerald Aboagye, Ahkeem Belford, Harry Barnes (Ellis
Procter 64), Jake Goodman, Jensen Grant, Lyle Della-Verde, Jerson Dos Santos
Stanley Mills 81), Dominic Mogan-Griffiths (Will Efambe 53), Tyler Anderson, Ben
Morrison
Leatherhead: Sonny Wheeler, Ross Stepney, Kane Fitzgerald, Niran Butler, Nathan
Hogan, Sam De St Croix (Isaac Olaniyan 63, Ronnie Spinks 90), Anas Igozouln
(Kareem Akinnibi 76), Lukas Franzen-Jones (Tyrell Butler 83), George Hedley, Mark
Waters, James McLeod
