Tanners 1 - 2 Hayes & Yeading

Is there a world where we can win a game without Anas and Nathan? I hope so, but on the evidence of a few second-half collapses — and this one, after Nathan was withdrawn — it feels doubtful. With Anas away and Nathan nursing a midweek illness, it all compounded a leggy display that suggested last Tuesday had taken its toll.

 

Hayes & Yeading brought more fans than I remember seeing at their place when we played them last year. Perhaps they were there then, but had little to shout about as we ran away 5-0 winners. This time they certainly had more to celebrate, as their player cut across the face of the box, evaded three challenges, and blasted powerfully past Sonny Wheeler. 0-1.

 

Second half and Leatherhead needed to step it up, as Nathan made way for fresh legs. The change had an immediate impact as their 'keeper failed to deal with a ball into the box and Hedley prodded it home from close range. 1-1.

 

We started to look much livelier and nearly took the lead when Bancroft broke free for a one-on-one with the 'keeper. Twice before he'd had similar chances, but from the left of goal, and checking back for a right-footed shot gave the defence time to recover and block. This time he was on the right, so he could send the 'keeper the wrong way and drive a powerful effort towards the near post. It rattled the post and bounced into a dangerous area in the goalmouth, but no one was there to follow up.

 

Not even a trip to the toilet could conjure the decisive goal we needed, and with ten minutes to go it got worse as Hayes & Yeading scored on the break. 1-2. Any energy we had left soon dissipated, and they held on for a win that keeps us looking over our shoulder.

 

Onto Tuesday and another tough game, with the visit of Moneyfields…

Hayes & Yeading are coming!

Another tough game, today, as sixth-placed Hayes & Yeading come to the Grove today.

We beat them 5-0 earlier in the season and just lost to the same score line to AFC Portchester, but you don't sit in sixth without posing a threat.

Kick off at 3pm. See you there!

AFC Portchester 0 - 3 Tanners

Leatherhead pulled off a statement result with a fine 3-0 win away at AFC Portchester. After a pre-match pint in one of the two bars serving supporters, I emerged into the new ground to hear their manager had just been presented with Manager of the Month. The kiss of death had been administered.

 

The first half was a cagey affair, but it sprang into life when one of their players saw red for a high tackle. Did the AFC Portchester player make significant contact with Massango? I don't care. He dived in with the ball out of reach, straight leg, knee height. The red card however, if anything, prompted a robust response from the hosts, and Leatherhead did well to stand up to it.

 

In the second half, it was difficult to tell who had ten men as AFC Portchester pegged us back. Sensing we needed a goal, I hauled myself from my spot behind the goal to a new position out wide, near the toilets. The switch brought my third goal in two games as Hedley headed in a Paget cross.

 

The second goal was karma served on a plate. AFC's number 6, Jack Lee, spent much of the game bullying and diving rather than playing football—a tactic that worked for him at Moneyfields last year, when one of our players was sent off following his playacting. This time, a corner was swung in and Lee was so preoccupied with trying to win a foul off Kane that he failed to notice Cameron Black steaming in. Black met the ball cleanly and thumped it into the net.

 

At 2-0, AFC Portchester probably felt they had us exactly where they wanted us and fancied a route back into it, but we found a third to kill it off. Bancroft was brought on, this time as a straight swap for Breckon, keeping the structural integrity of the formation that was working so well intact. With renewed power and pace up front, he calmly ran onto a long diagonal ball, brought it down, and poked it into the far corner. 3-0.

 

A great win, and a relatively easy midweek drive home—without the Hindhead Tunnel closing on us. Onto Saturday, and the visit of Hayes & Yeading…

Travelling Tanners

The New Ground Klaxon sounds with a trip to AFC Portchester this Shrove Tuesday.  And I will be flipping annoyed if we conspire to give up a two goal lead again.

Our hosts have hit some form, so we will need to be on our game for the whole 90 minutes.

Kick off at 7.45pm. Directions can be found here.  See you there!

Hanworth Villa 3 -3 Tanners

Another squandered lead yesterday, when it looked like we were well worth all three points.

Leatherhead dominated the first half and missed two good chances before Hanworth grabbed a goal against the run of play. Hogan rattled the crossbar and Breckon blasted over from close range. Typical that our hosts scored with their first shot on goal. 0–1.

As the half was drawing to a close, I decided that walking around for a cup of tea would bring Leatherhead goals, and I was not disappointed. First, Anas latched onto a cross and fired it into the roof of the net, and then we won a penalty that Hogan slotted away. 2–1. You're welcome.

In the second half, we were soon in table-topping dreamland as Hogan bore down on goal and slotted a long-range effort into the bottom corner. 3–1.

Then it all changed. Up until the 68th minute, we had dominated midfield with three in the centre and two explosive wingers who were posing a threat (and scoring). Then off came Anas (not sure why), and on came Jacob Bancroft, leaving us with only four in midfield. He put himself about a bit, but the midfield battle was starting to be lost and the pressure grew.

Just eight minutes later, Hanworth scored to set up a nervous ending. To help out, Bancroft moved into a left-wing role but lacked the pace to pull this off. Jordan Gallagher was so keen to get involved that he pretended to take a corner while warming up and got booked. Interestingly, the Hanworth player who attempted to pull Anas off the pitch when he was subbed off only got a talking-to.

The game wore on and finally we could see light at the end of the tunnel. We were past 90 minutes and through the four minutes of added time when Hanworth won a corner. The referee treated the time like the final drive in rugby and played on, and the resulting corner was swung in and met by a Hanworth header that was thundered in. The ref blew his whistle no sooner than the ball had hit the back of the net. 3-3.

Disappointing and entirely avoidable. Again. Onto Tuesday, and the New Ground Klaxon sounds again with the trip to AFC Portchester.

Travelling Tanners

Love is in the air, as we travel to Hanworth Villa this Valentine's Day.  Something that isn't in the air, rain.  Which is ironic given this is a weekend the elements would find hard to spoil as our hosts have a 3G pitch.

It's second vs. first.  Kick off at 3pm.  Directions can be found here.  See you there!

Corinthian-Casuals 0 - 5 Tanners

This was my second trip into Woking for football in four days, after watching a Binfield, that side tore into us only a couple of weeks ago, fluff their first-half chances, and then lose convincingly to Westfield on Saturday.

 

Working in Woking and being desperate for a game, I jumped at the chance to get to this friendly and realised, as I walked through the leisure centre, that I had the added bonus of ticking off a new ground.

 

Corinthian-Casuals were probably grateful for the friendly at first, but football came at them fast as a strong Leatherhead side raced into a 4-0 lead. Quick goals from Anas, Sapsford (I thought it was Hogan at the time), Hogan (penalty), and Breckon made this a non-event inside 25 minutes. If we learned anything from the first half, it's that tackles still hurt in friendlies too—Mark Waters took a couple of hefty ones.

 

I counted eight changes in the second half, which slowed our goal rate considerably. Jordan got our fifth when he ran onto a cross (one Corinthian-Casuals really should have dealt with) and smashed it into the top near corner, having just given the 'keeper "the eyes".

 

With Saturday looking in doubt, it was good to get a game under the belt, and with fixture congestion forecast as well, maybe we should appeal to the league to classify this as a league match and take the three points…

Harrow 0 - 2 Tanners

A crash on the M25 turned a one-hour journey into something a lot longer. Was I worried about getting back in time for the panto I was due to see that evening? Oh yes, I was.

 

In the opening minutes, our debutant, Sapsford, dived in for a tackle and, while making contact with the ball, also landed on the Harrow player. A lengthy delay then ensued while the player received treatment before being stretchered off to hospital, and Sapsford escaped with only a yellow card.

 

Once the game restarted, Leatherhead comprehensively dominated, but it took set pieces to score the vital goals. Nathan Hogan swung in a free kick that, as soon as it began its downward trajectory, looked destined for the net. The ball dropped between the defenders and the 'keeper with such pace that it invited either a Leatherhead header or a panicked clearance that risked an own goal. Breckon was first to it and headed the opener. He was then denied a hat-trick by two offside decisions.

 

Then, in the 11th minute of the 13 indicated, Anas sent in a corner and Black rose to head it past the 'keeper. Up until that point, Anas' corners had been somewhat lofty, but a demand for "flatter" was obeyed, and it proved far more deadly.

 

Into the second half, and the inevitable collapse and concession of three goals? Oh no they didn't. Leatherhead went on to deliver a thoroughly professional performance and left Harrow with nothing but scraps.

 

All of this played out against the backdrop of some really poor officiating. Harrow were obviously upset not to get their "stonewall" red-card decision, while Leatherhead were frustrated with assistant referees who refused to flag for fouls right under their noses, gave Harrow anything for falling over while we got little, and failed to give a back-pass decision for one of the most obvious infringements of its kind I've seen.

 

A fine win, though, and a further chance to build on this form with a visit from Chipstead on Tuesday (weather permitting)…

Travelling Tanners

A blip turned into a wobble and over two second half performances we lost 8-1… the kind of performance that creates offers of free drinks to the supporters only for that to be later retracted…

Today we travel to ninth placed Harrow Borough, a side that beat Hayes & Yeading on the week.

Kick off at 3pm.  Directions can be found here.  See you there!

Leatherhead 4 - 5 Binfield

Leatherhead suffered the kind of capitulation rarely seen outside of Day 2 of the Ashes, as we conceded five – five! – second-half goals to Binfield.

In the first half, this all seemed so easy and straightforward. Anas set up Breckon for a tap-in. 1–0. Hogan shot with his right, then followed up the rebound with his left. 2–0. Then Anas scored a fine goal. 3–0. Leatherhead's potent trident were in full effect.

Half-time brought a moment to sit down with a cup of tea and contemplate how many more we would score… then things started to unravel.

At half-time, Massango made way for Charlie Kennett at left-back and things seemed OK. Binfield came out looking for a way back into the game, but we were comfortable. Their opener was perhaps a little fortuitous, taking a massive deflection to beat Sonny. Nothing to worry about: 3–1.

Then we made a double substitution that probably turned the game. Gallagher and Hogan went off. Suddenly, all of the swagger and potency left the pitch, and our left-hand side were new to a game where the pace was about to step up. Three quick goals followed from Binfield, all attacks down their right, fired in with a pace that Leatherhead seemed unwilling or unable to deal with. 3–4.

With 15 minutes to go, even with the shock of now losing a game we had looked certain to win, I thought we could bounce back… but then we gave away a penalty and the visitors made it 3–5, despite Sonny diving the right way.

To Leatherhead's credit, we tried to salvage a point. Hedley headed home, and Binfield survived two scares when they were able to head the ball off the line and their 'keeper dived sharply to his left to stop a deflected shot from creeping in.

This is the kind of result that, had we seen Moneyfields, Westfield, etc. do this, we would have wet ourselves laughing. As it is, we are the wetees and not the wetor.

Tanners 2 - 3 Horsham

Leatherhead didn't have enough in the tank to see the job out against their National League South opposition after taking a first-half 2-0 lead.

 

Over 1,600 fans came to see the showdown, and Leatherhead not only avoided a perhaps expected early battering but took the game to Horsham. The first goal came after just seven minutes when Anas was allowed far too much space on the ball to run into the box and pick out Hogan. His finish was crisp, to the near post, and beat the hapless 'keeper with ease. 1-0.

 

With Hogan playing through the middle, Jordan Gallagher was given the freedom to play down the right, and he relished the task. Like Anas, the Horsham defence found him difficult to handle, and on 36 minutes, he drove into the box. Two or three defenders tried to stop the attack, but none of them fully committed, and with the 'keeper also coming off his line, Jordan simply rolled it into an open net. 2-0.

 

Moments later, Jordan attempted to curl one into the same corner from further out. Had it not been just a foot wide, a 3-0 lead might have been too much for Horsham to bounce back from. But wide it went, and we went into the break 2-0 up…

 

The second half was a very different story. Horsham had regrouped and came out with purpose, whereas we largely looked like we only wanted to defend our lead. That lead was halved just four minutes into the half when some tight passing through the middle freed a striker to advance on goal and coolly finish. 2-1.

 

On the hour mark, it was all square when Horsham broke away from our corner. We had just gotten back into the game and were applying pressure when Anas completely mistimed a shot, allowing the ball to be stolen and pushed up the pitch. During the pre-match warm-up, Horsham had exhibited some of the most clinical practice shots I've ever seen. I barely feared for my face or cup of tea once. One player stood out in particular—Ola Ogunwamide—who fired a powerful, dipping shot over Sonny and into the side netting from the edge of the box. 2-2.

 

The game remained even, and just as we debated which end penalties would be taken at, disaster struck. A well-worked move down the left allowed for a cross across the face of our goal, and a Horsham player was on hand to slide in and prod it home. 3-2.

 

So, the FA Sodding Trophy adventure ended exactly how I feared it would: losing to a local rival we know too well, as opposed to the delight of losing 5-0 away at Carlisle or somewhere similar. Now we can get back to the business of trying to win the league, and I wonder how many of the Leatherhead-based 1,600 will be donning two pairs of socks for the visit of Moneyfields on Tuesday…

Horsham are coming!

Trophy fever comes to The Grove today, as we host old friends Horsham today.

Their manager complained of being to the "bare bones" due to injuries in the week, but given their place in their league I'm sure they have good bones.

Kick off at 3pm. See you there!