"A place for everything, and everything in its place", as my mother used to say — and this was a well-balanced Leatherhead side, with the key players in the positions that cause (and limit) the most damage. Well, almost everyone: Waters was absent, so Paget stepped in and did a good job. Importantly, Anas was back and out wide, alongside Hogan.
As the players came out of the tunnel, someone shouted, "Keep it cool, Sonny," to our 'keeper, who turned and laughed. It lightened the mood, but it was a shadow of last year's game in terms of the home crowd. Their run of results has kept the floating supporters away, though those who were there were welcoming.
Initially, Ascot set themselves up to defend robustly at set pieces. Their number 2 decided Niran needed some manhandling and began a series of pushes and nudges. The ball came in, and number 2 was suddenly on his backside. He didn't try that again. It's good to have Niran back.
Leatherhead settled the nerves of the travelling support after just seven minutes. A cross was floated in and found Hogan unmarked in the middle, where he caressed the ball into the side netting. 1-0.
The second goal came in similar fashion. A corner was lofted in and this time Cameron Black was on hand to place the ball into the same corner. Two goals from lofted balls dropping to unmarked feet in the area tells you all you need to know about why this Ascot side has been struggling at the moment.
In the dying minutes of the first half, we swung in another cross that Breckon met, but his stooping header went just wide. 2-0 at half-time.
Early in the second half we nearly got off to the perfect start again, when Anas broke free on the right but shot uncharacteristically wide. At 2-0 we still looked comfortable, and we could spend the game glancing at other results and seeing things go our way.
Then came that sinking feeling: an Ascot player let fly with an ambitious shot-cum-cross from a tight angle and it found the top corner. 2-1. By then, Paget had to move back to right-back and we had the less defensively minded Logan Coles (sponsored by The Lip!) on, so Ascot had their tails up and started to press. The ref found seven minutes of stoppage time — which makes a mockery of the six that were awarded on Tuesday night, given the lengthy spells of timewasting Moneyfields enjoyed — but we held on for the win to move back to the top.
Onto Saturday, then, when Fareham come to the Grove…