Tanners 3 - 2 Eastbourne

Off the pitch Leatherhead were back to their best.  Pre-match curry, tick.  Half time raffle, wallop.  On the pitch there were signs we are truly up and running again.

You would certainly say this from the first half display.  Kev Terry forced an off the line clearance from an improbable angle then created a goal from a telling run down the left which he selflessly squared to Elliott who tapped in.

Bradbrook, back in the starting line up, then gave us a master class with a strike that seemed to have power and a touch of lob to it as the 'keeper was beaten from distance.  Minutes later he controlled a ball on his chest in the box and neatly prodded it home to make it three.

This was too easy and when Bradbrook again pulled off a dipping shot that beat the keeper but struck the underside of the bar early in the second half we were hoping for a comfortable second half.

Things started to wobble when the ref gave a freekick of which the validity was questioned mildly by some around me.  Nothing unsure about their finish.  Mo Maan, here on loan, beaten to make it 3-1.  A powerful strike off the underside of the bar made it 3-2.  We couldn't muck this up could we?

No.  We held on but the shout that should have rang out through the league as a battle cry sounded more like a satisfied cheer of a fan that probably had too much curry.

Eastbourne Town are coming!

One of my favourite Saturday away trips this... but it is Eastbourne making the long midweek journey to us tonight for this Ryman league clash.

They sit five points above us but we have two games in hand so a nice evenly balanced game could be in store for us.

Curry at 6.30.  Kick off at 7.45.  See you there.

Spice up your strife!

With back to back wins the bad patch could be well and truly over BUT whatever happens on Tuesday at least you can watch the game with a warm glow of a curry inside you.

A buffet curry will be available from 6.30pm. For only £8 you will be able to help yourself from a range of six separate dishes provided club sponsors Five Rivers Indian Restaurant.

The food will be available on a first come first served basis.

Whitstable 0 - 1 Tanners

Leatherhead's bounceback continues with a 1-0 win away at Whitstable in the FA Trophy.

It was a close game but against the run of play the new boots of Sam Blackman came into action to grab us a late goal.

Onto the next round and the prospect of a curry night with new found hope on Tuesday night...

Travelling Tanners

Back to the Trophy after a fine win in the league midweek.  Top side Crawley Down Gatwick were put to the sword with an impressive 3-0 with goals from Tommy Hutchings, Kevin Terry and Jerry Nnamani.  Now Richard Brady is confident we have turned a corner and all this fuss was for nothing.

Perhaps it would have been a good time to play in the league again to see if we can build on this but the Trophy is proving to be a valuable source of income and enjoyment this season.  We are without Vernon, who is cup tied, but hopefully we learnt how to find the back of the net again.

Directions can be found here.  Good luck fellas.

Crawley Down Gatwick 0 - 3 Tanners

That's full time. A good performance that ends a run of 4 straight defeats.

More to follow...

Dulwich 3 - 1 Tanners

The scoreline doesn't quite tell full tale today.  OK, we were stunned by two quick goals but it was certainly played out with a lot more energy than we have seen in recent weeks.

In our strikers though we have quite some firepower, which is why I find this situation almost unforegivable.  That said Tommy took hold of one of our "rare attacks" and slotted in a goal to keep us in the race.

Second half and Vernon, back from Dulwich after being declared too expensive, for Blackman who impressed on Tuesday night.

On about 70 minutes we were down to 10 when when Nnamani fouled as the last man.  Then Dulwich went to keep their 100% record of penalties this season and made it 3-1 with the last kick of the game.

Its been four games since the ridiculous threat was laid down that we were yet to find top gear.  Getting it into first without stalling would be a start.

Travelling Tanners

A slow start for Dulwich by their standards who must be hoping to go up on the third time of asking after failing in two play-offs.

Our play-off dream could be evaporating too if we continue to blank with only Kev Terry finding the back of the net from open play in recent games.

Two struggling teams.  One long journey.  Jack.  Pot.

Directions can be found here .  Good luck fellas.

Out on penalties

Sorry for missing the build up.  Hectic at work.

Leatherhead's release from the league showed we could hold our own at the back but again failt to score in open play.  It ended 0-0 but we lose on penalties.

Back to focus on the league then...

Tanners 1 - 2 Ramsgate

Leatherhead's attack.  So blunt it could sing "You're Beautiful".  We are playing some weird brand of football at the moment.  It is as if the criticism of playing the long ball game has struck a chord with Brady and he sent out the troops to attempt to play some over elaborate football which inevitably ended up at the feet of a Ramsgate player.  It was someone what reminiscent of England v San Marino but less clear who was the home nation.

Then we nearly got a lucky break that Joe Sheerin would have been proud of.  Tommy Hutchings charged down a clearance from the 'keeper and over it sailed towards the goal.  One the first bounce we cheered, on the second bounce we laughed and on the third bounce we looked on in disbelief as it gained height and just cleared the bar.

We were still laughing when a Ramsgate cross found an unmarked head of a striker and we were one nil down.

Out for the second half and we needed to shake things up a bit after 15 more minutes of nonsense.  Kev Terry came on and things happened.  He was soon one on one with the 'keeper and cheekily nutmegged him to make us level.

Bradbrook had a chance just in front of goal but opted to control it with his right instead of having a go with his left and the chance faded.  Again a cruel deflection shot up over the Ramsgate 'keeper but instead of being hopeless beaten as he was before he got back and pulled back and amazing save.

Then in the last few minutes of the game a Ramsgate break down the middle was pushed out to the right for their winger to have a shot at goal that went in off the post.  We lose again and were subject to, apart from ten post Terry substitute minutes, a drab performance.

Ramsgate Are Coming

Oh great.  Another side that is in the bottom four of the table.  What could go wrong?

Leatherhead host Ramsgate in the League today looking to bounce back from two quite poor showings.

Kick off at 3pm.  See you there.

Tanners 1 - 3 Rebels

This was certainly a tale of two teams as Leatherhead lose to a team struggling for league form twice in two games.  One side took their chances.  The other squandered theirs and came out sorry 3-1 losers.

Worthing raced to a 2-0 lead while Leatherhead went just wide early on, then hit the post and had one cleared off the line for good measure.

Second half and Worthing were true to the scoring form I indicated earlier today and added a third, only it was an own goal to give us something to build on.

However, football is a funny game and while on Saturday we were gifted a penalty for a rarely seen off the ball incident we were punished by a penalty at the other end so the mirroring continued.  We gave them an own goal to give it a very similar feel.

Richard Brady's comments of issuing warnings over not yet hitting top gear yet may be best served towards the fans rather than the high scoring opposition as we are looking distinctly average against teams well placed below us...

Worthing Are Coming

Leatherhead will need to improve on their disjointed performance of the weekend to get a win against an established side in a similar position on the table.

Worthing come to the Grove sitting in the bottom three after having played seven games BUT they they have scored 13 goals this season so remain a threat.

Kick off at 7.45.  Good luck fellas.

Merstham 3 - 1 Tanners

A stroppy, sloppy performance by Leatherhead today giving Merstham a well deserved win.

Merstham were certainly up for this.  Jack Macleod was out on their right looking in the kind of form that launched up the league two years ago.  Our defence was all over the place as they header themselves into an early lead.

Their pace on breakaway moves were causing us problems and from this they got the second down the left.  A powerful shot into the roof of the net.  Our 'keeper was probably wishing he was back on the bench at Gillingham.  I was wishing I was back on my sofa in Guildford.

We did show some flashes of goal scoring chances in between their two goals but I would say that was down to the strength of our forward line rather than any kind of intelligent play.

Second half and we got our breakthrough.  Their number 5 was at the centre of everything good and bad about Merstham today.  An elbow here, hard tackling there and a shirt pull in the box.  The latter spotted by the assistant who gave us a penalty that Greg slotted away.

They game was marred also by a certain undercurrent and soon little brawls were erupting all over the place.  This was becoming quite unenjoyable made worse when the ref saw a handball in the box and gave Mertsham a penalty.  3-1.

All in all, today has been an absolute disaster #decision...

Travelling Tanners

My first league game of the season which is not entirely my fault as this will only be the fifth we have played this year.  Our Tuesday nights are going to get busy.

Merstham were in action in the Trophy too last week and made a day of it away at Chatham by beating them 4-2.  In the league, however, they are having a hard time of it with only one win.  Was Chatham the cup result to get them on the roll..?

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

FA Trophy

Hold the phone.  We're away again.  Second Qualifying round of the Trophy will played away at Whitstable on 27 October.

That is my birthday weekend.  Not a good omen.

Faversham 0 - 2 Tanners

Leatherhead ease into the Second Qualifying Round after beating Faversham away today.

It was Faversham who nearly opened the scoring late in the first half but Leatherhead punished them for the miss in the second.  Bradbrook getting the first with Simmo chipping in to make it safe.

That's £2,550 in the bag and into the draw for the next round!

Travelling Tanners

No.  This is getting silly now.  Another away trip in an FA Competition?  Brendan Rodgers has nothing to moan about.  THIS is a conspiracy.

Tomorrow we travel into Kent for the First Qualifying Round of the FA Trophy and play Faversham.  A ground we were denied a last minute win on last time we were there as our penalty takers had been subbed off and were watching from the sideline as it was saved.

Progression in this competition does send some winnings our way so let's hope they do well tomorrow.

Kick off at 3pm.  Directions below.  Good luck fellas.

Directions: From junction 6 of the M2 (A251) follow the signs for Faversham. At the junction with the A2 turn right and the ground is on the right after approximately half a mile, just past The Windmill. The entrance is in Salters Lane, opposite Mill House Residential Home. If you are using SatNav the postcode of the ground is ME13 8ND.

Chelmsford City 2 - 1 Tanners

Despite the close scoreline and late charge I cannot help but think Leatherhead whimpered out of the FA Cup this year after an assured start seemed to ebb away.

For the opening 30 minutes Leatherhead were giving as good as they got.  Chelmsford's attacks coming from some smart crisp passing while we lacked a certain composure but more than made up for it in endeavour and got created some half chances.  Albeit through Tommy chasing down a ball the 'keeper tried to clear and winning some corners.

Just as it looked like we could battle out the half a Chelmsford diagonal ball into the box and a deft header beat our man between the sticks to take the lead.  This knocked the stuffing out of Leatherhead as we offered little for the remaining 10 minutes.

A quick word on our hosts though.  I was dreading this trip but it is smart looking stadium where they have managed to overcome the problem of having a running track by having stands in the large usually wasted area behind the goal so we could be close to the action.  They also seem a friendly bunch where song is replaced by polite ripple of applause heard usually at cricket matches.  Nothing wrong with that if you can grind out wins as they were today.

Second half and Leatherhead stepped out from the tunnel in completely the wrong state of mind if you ask me.  They looked flat and beaten.  Whilst in play the lack of chances can be put to the quality of Chelmsford but we seemed to lack the drive needed to get an equaliser.

Our task was made harder when the ref stepped in with a decision that could have easily have gone our way.  A free kick in a dangerous place and while moving the wall Chelmsford took it early.  Over it went without troubling our goal.  Advantage taken by Chelmsford?  No.  The ref pulled it back and with the second composed attempt it had more quality and beat our 'keeper.

The ref would only have to worry about this if we scored an equaliser which looked unlikely at the time but substitutions created some urgency that sent Andrews down the right, crossing into Bradbrook who made it interesting.

Eight minutes to and we had time for shout for a penalty and groan at a header that sailed over.  It was not to be.  The charge was too late and so good luck to Chelmsford in the next round.

Faversham in the Trophy then...

Travelling Tanners

Big day tomorrow as Leatherhead face the daunting task of going to Chelmsford and getting something from the game.  The bookies don't fancy it with us at 5/1 and a draw at 4/1.  The message board doesn't really fancy it as last year when faced with a similar task there was a fair amount of fire in our bellies prior to the Sutton game which appears to be lacking.

That could be because Chelmsford City have just been so nice to us.  They have even given us everything we need to know to get to Melbourne Park on the message board here.

Tough game but should be a great day out.  Kick off at 3pm and for the first time this season.... see you there!