Match Report by Rod Ellis
AFC Whyteleafe 5 Leatherhead 3
Leatherhead bowed out of the Velocity Cup with a first round defeat against AFC Whyteleafe in an eight goal thriller at Church Road on Tuesday.
Despite Tanners taking an early two-goal lead and being 3-2 up at the break, the Leafestruck back with three goals in the second half to win five-three.
Leatherhead started brightly and took the lead on seven minutes. Nathan Hogan picked out Anas Igozouln with a fine delivery across the width of the hosts’ penalty area. The quick paced winger played the ball into the path of an advancing Ty Butler to fire home past goalkeeper George Hill from close range.
The young keeper almost conceded an embarrassing own goal six minutes later when he completely misjudged a Leafe defender’s back pass and watched on as the ball rolled just wide of his post for a Leatherhead corner.
Tanners almost extended their lead when the Leafe defence failed to clear a Hogan corner with Kareem Akinnibi’s long range effort clipping the top of the crossbar.
Further pressure resulted in a second goal for the visitors on 22 minutes. Leafe failed to clear another Leatherhead corner before Cameron Black’s close range effort was cleared off the line by a defender. Or was it? The referee went over to consult with his assistant on the touch line and after a brief discussion awarded the goal.
Straight from the restart Leafe pulled one back. Eniola Hassan powered his way through the middle to outmuscle his marker and beat Tanners keeper Rileigh Hebditch from the edge of the box.
And five minutes later Leafe were back on level terms at two-all. Moses Emmanuel, recently signed from Kingstonian – where he had scored in a previous match againstLeatherhead two weeks earlier, turned past his marker and found the corner of the net with a superb strike from just outside the box.
With the scores level, there followed an end to end passage of play with both sides having good opportunities to take the lead. Hill made a fine low save fromLeatherhead’s Seb Tauta-Caballero before Hebditch made an impressive stop to deny Leafe’s Jamie Mascoll on 39 minutes.
The ball was quickly played forward into Leafe’s half, where Hogan picked out Igozouln with another pinpoint cross and the former Ascot United marksman buried the ball to restore Tanners’ slender lead.
But Leafe were back level at three-all on 52 minutes. Hassan cut inside his marker to fire home from the edge of the box.
And four minutes later Leafe took the lead for the first time on the night with a fine long range effort from Rotimi Oderinde.
From there on Leafe never looked like conceding and on 84 minutes the hosts booked their place in the next round of the league cup with a fifth goal.
Hebditch skewed an untidy clearance with a Whyteleafe forward curling an opportunistic shot wide of goal from forty yards out. But instead of the ball running out of play for a Tanners goal kick, Mascoll reacted quickly to latch onto the looseball to fire home from a wide angle.
Leatherhead return to league action on Saturday when they entertain Hendon at Fetcham Grove. Kick-off is at 3.00pm.
AFC Whyteleafe: George Hill, Helge Orome, Moses Emmanuel, Dom Vose (Jordan Johnson-Palmer 76), Aaron Goode, Corey Holder, Rotimi Oderinde (Cairo Dumaney-Burton 86), Eniola Hassan (Alton Leeward 65), Stefan Ilic (Dan Bennett 76), Jamie Mascoll, Craig Braham-Barrett
Leatherhead: Rileigh Hebditch, George Hedley, James McLeod (Kelvin Massango 79), Niran Butler, Cameron Black, Mark Waters, Seb Tauta-Caballero, Nathan Hogan, Ty Butler (Lukas Franzen-Jones 63), Kareem Akinnibi (Jacob Breckon 63), Anas Igozouln
