Travelling Tanners

Thank goodness Bedfont Sports Club have a 3G pitch, or this game would have fallen foul to Storm Mathis.

Some may think Storm Mathis came a few days too late, with the defeat in cup against Virginia Water, but now it's all about the league...

Kick off at 3pm.  Directions can be found here.  Good luck fellas.

Virginia Water 2 - 2 Tanners (4-3 on penalties)

Not only do I lose one ground, Leatherhead crash out of the Southern Combination Challenge Cup on penalties.

The hosts opened the scoring on 14 minutes but we were quick to respond with a Jerry Puemo goal.  The travelling fans may have hoped that we would go on and take a comfortable lead, but the hosts had other ideas by making it 2-1 on the half hour mark.

Second half and on came some big guns and Tarpey hit back to make it 2-2.  At about the time the ref could have blown for full time he awarded us a penalty to take us through, but Tarpey could not find the back of the net and the penalty shoot-out was summoned.

Tarpey made amends by scoring the opening penalty but three Leatherhead players went on to miss and despite Virginia Water also missing, they did enough to beat their higher placed opposition.

Onto Bedfont Sports on Saturday then...

Travelling Tanners

This fixture has upset me a little bit.  In doing my research into the whole confusion over which club we are travelling to, I discovered that Windsor & Eton no longer exist and Windsor were created in their place.  

While it is never nice to hear about a club folding, the real reason for my despair was the realisation that my football ground list is now overstated to the tune of one duplicated Stag Meadow.  I will update my list to reduce the count, shortly.  Honest.

Tonight we travel to play Virginia Water, without the promise of the New Ground Klaxon but with a hope of reaching the Semi Final of the Southern Combination Challenge Cup.  Our hosts ply their trade in the Combined Counties Premier Division North and sit in 7th place.

Kick off at 7.45pm.  Directions can be found here.  Good luck fellas.

Tanners 2 - 0 Thatcham

The game started off with a minute's applause in honour of Dave Fuzzey and then onto the business of trying to get three points.

After a slow start, Leatherhead started applying the pressure but without really troubling the goalkeeper.  Dan Hector did deceive the 'keeper, who guessed the wrong way as he shot, but a deflection took it into the path of the diving 'keeper.

Second half and the game was starting to look every inch a 0-0 draw but just as we approached 10 minutes to go, Dan Hector struck.  He made some space inside the box and while his shot was not the cleanest shot, it did enough to beat the 'keeper.  1-0.

Leatherhead can be ripe for the picking at 1-0 but Dave Tarpey made it safe with a fantastic strike that flew into the top left hand corner despite the 'keeper getting a hand to it. 2-0.

Another two goals would have seen us rise above the visitors but we have to settle for 13th place today.

On to Tuesday where we play Virginia Water who play at Windsor FC (and not Windsor & Eton).

Thatcham are coming

This time last week, I posted a preview for the game oblivious to the rain outside and was caught out.  Today, the weather has been kinder and we can expect football today.

Our guests sit three points above us and were the team that gave us our first win of the season; so a double could be on the cards today.

Kick off at 3pm.  See you there! 

Game off

Alas, the overnight rain proved too much. Game off.

Merstham are coming!

The Mick Sullivan (and Hayden Bird) Derby comes to the Grove today for this league fixture.  Much like Guernsey, Merstham arrive as the in-form side.  They were very much the whipping boys at the start of the season, but now are unbeaten in seven.

Leatherhead continue to be somewhat inconsistent but did manage to notch up a fine win in our last game.

Kick off at 3pm.  Come on you Tanners!

Chipstead 1 - 3 Tanners

An impressive display sees Leatherhead run out comfortable winners on the road at Chipstead.

Two first half goals from Lawson and a stunning strike from Dan Hector made Chipstead's response a mere consolation.

On to Saturday and the visit of a much revitalised Merstham...

Travelling Tanners

Well, another crazy day as we travel to Chipstead today in the league.  We sit on the same points but they have a better goal difference by one.  That can change in a blink of an eye...  Hopefully we can conquer this team and be back by 8pm.

Kick off at 3pm.  Directions can be found here.  Good luck fellas.

Tanners 1 - 2 Guersey

The game went with form, as a revitalised Guernsey stunned the home side with two quick goals in the second half.

The first half was played out very much as the league table would suggest.  Leatherhead simply would not let Guernsey out of their half and pressed for the opening goal.

Splatt came close initially when he struck a low cross onto the outside of the post.  Away at Basingstoke we speculated that we were probably the team with the highest tally of rattling the woodwork and we went on to double our tally for the day.  A deflected shot looped over the 'keeper and struck the bar.

The second half started and we did not have the same energy and Guernsey started to smell blood.  We certainly did not help ourselves when Slav dropped a high ball and the ball was bundled in during the resulting melle.

Just three minutes later, they found the net again.  A period of possession was rewarded with a well placed shot from within the box.

We did respond but without the same intensity of the first half.  Tarpey looked bright; perhaps playing in the larger no 11 shirt gave him more freedom.  When a bouncing ball came into the box, his neat finish on the spin gave us some home.

But Guernsey are on a roll and they knew what they needed to do to get the three points and did so without the excessive need to waste time.

On to next Saturday and the trip to Chipstead...

Guernsey are coming!

It's been just over nine years since we first made the trip to Guernsey and today they come to us.

They started the season very much the whipping boys but now look a force to be reckoned with.

Kick off at 3pm. See you there!

Ashford Town 0 - 3 Tanners

Leatherhead bounced back with a fine 3-0 win on the road with goals from Diallo, Splatt and Tarpey.

The win moves us to within 9 of the play-off places but we face a resurgent Guernsey side on Saturday...