Harlow 2 - 1 Tanners

Leatherhead saw out 2016 with a whimper today. For whatever the reason we weren't quite at the races. 

We created very few chances and Harlow were deserved winners. Cash scored with a fine shot when he cut in from the wing on 30 minutes but it was very much against the run of play. There wasn't much improvement in the 2nd half and it seemed inevitable that Harlow would score at least twice to take all 3 points.

2016 saw a lot of changes. It was the year of Ashdexit and Sandmexit. Rod and Dickie left office after years of service for the club. Brades took over as Chairman and Jimmy Bullard created plenty of interest when he took over as Manager. 

We have seen some encouraging signs and improved attendances in recent weeks. We can be optimistic for continued progress in 2017. So onto Merstham on Monday 2nd January. We will go into that fixture undefeated in the calendar year.

Travelling Tanners

Leatherhead make a trip to mid table Harlow tomorrow and I can't decide if it's a new ground. We did play them in a pre-season friendly (which I went to) but don't know if that predates the stadium's opening of 2006.

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

Tanners 2 - 1 (same old) Met Police

We know what to expect from Met Police. They have always been a dirty and unpleasant team. It was a surprise today that their 'keeper was an unassuming and pleasant sort of chap. He's at the wrong club.

Met Police delighted us with their early season form. They were rubbish and looked a certainty for the drop. Unfortunately, they have turned it around in recent weeks and won 6 straight games. The Met Police Assistant Commissioner must have turned the police lottery tap back on.

Leatherhead are also a different proposition to a few weeks ago. We play quick passing football with skilful players happy to look after the ball. That's exactly what we did in the 1st half creating few clear chances against a well drilled (shouted at) Met Police side. A bumper crowd in excess of 350 reflected the new buzz around Fetcham Grove. The crowd was also swelled by three or four Met Police followers, and the welcome return of Rod.

The 2nd half bought our just reward with a superb cross converted by a fine header from Mohammed Sagaf. We were comfortable at 1-0 until the referee (who had been inconsistent throughout and a bit of a prat) awarded the softest penalty since wise men took presents to Bethlehem. The penalty was converted and it seemed more of an injustice than the treatment of Paul Gambacchini.

Fear not said Jimmy although mighty dread had seized our troubled minds. In the 87th minute we scrambled in the goalmouth and Rian Bray gently lobbed the ball into the net.
This lead to scenes of great joy and goodwill to all men. Well all those that support Leatherhead anyway! 

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas from all of us here at The Lip!

May your turkey be on your plate and not flapping at a cross in the 89th minute.

Met Police are coming

Shhhh.  Don’t tell anyone at the club but it appears they have forgotten to rearrange this fixture for 8am or something.  That means for most of us we can go to the game at the normal time and see two sides in fine form.  Never mind us being 4^th in the form table, Met Police are top over 6 games.  Perhaps lottery funding and overtime have been put back into place…

Leatherhead’s Boxing Day clash could therefore prove to be a true classic.  Kick off at 3pm.  Yes, 3pm.  Good luck fellas.

 

Tanners 2 - 1 Enfield Town

If the season was just six games old the currently form guide puts us in 4^th place, as this impressive win perhaps signals a corner has been turned.

Leatherhead’s opening 25 minutes was impressive.  Every pass seemed to be done with menace and Enfield were clearly not ready for this.  If Leatherhead had not taken advantage of this then the result may have been different but as it was Sagaf was pounced to put us 1-0 up.  A through ball found both him and Mendy who appeared to compete to score but Sagaf was better placed and passed it into the bottom right corner.

Enfield Town did eventually come round to the idea that Leatherhead were not going to roll over easily so started to play their way back into the game although gave their travelling supporters little to cheer about for the remainder of the first half.

Leatherhead started the second half well too.  From a period of pressure we won a corner and our second goal.  The ball was swung in an I can only imagine their ‘keeper shouted to mark Mendy; in that moments of hesitation of the defender questioning whether that was Mendy with an E or a Y he beat his man and scored with a glancing header.

Two nil up and this puts Leatherhead on shaky ground.  The game always appear finely balanced between control and all out panic and it only takes one goal to shift it firmly into self-destruct and so it nearly happened.  Enfield grabbed their goal and if it were not for Wells this game may have slipped through our fingers.  Certainly when a save was made but leaving the ball sat on the goal line we feared the worse but somehow we cleared.

A fantastic win and Jimmy insisted on making the team walk off together to receive the cheers of the home support.  Let’s hope for more of the same with the visit of Met Police over the festive fixture season…

 

Enfield Town are coming

After the much needed win against Hendon, Leatherhead host Enfield Town tomorrow in what will be a very different proposition.  While they have drawn their last three games, they sit in eighth place and they didn’t get there by accident.

The club is offering half price entry (with proof of a re-tweet) for adults and under 16s are free.  This is then followed by “An evening with Jimmy and Razor”; where you can pay £25 to hear your own manager speak, banter and no doubt something a bit blue.

Kick off at 3pm.  See you there.

Hendon 1 - 3 Tanners

The few who made the game feared this was not going to be a fruitful trip with the departure of so many key players, Ricketts being the one that caused the eyebrows to raise the most.  However, Mendes was at hand with a debut that rivalled that of Glenn Boosey’s.

Another factor that worried me was the pitch.  It was a 3G one, seemed to have more pellets on that I remember seeing elsewhere, and we had already tasted defeat away at Worthing on a similar surface.  I need not have worried as it suited our new players perfectly.  With an even surface they were unplayable with the ball at their feet and it was from a confident run across the box Mendes opened his account.  The defenders seemed reluctant to get close and his powerful shot; low and into the corner; beat the ‘keeper.

A phrase we have heard recently is to “look after the ball”, and Hendon were poor at it.  All too often a Hendon defender would chase a ball but without being fully aware or committed and a determined Leatherhead player would beat them to it.  It was from such a move that Mo Sagaf scored, stealing the ball and running at goal at a tight angle.  The angle was such we felt it there could have been a better option but he slid it under the ‘keeper to prove us wrong.

Two nil at half and time to enjoy the facilities.  When I saw they didn’t have a dedicated tea bar I feared the worst but it turned out to be something of a highlight.  Polite service, reasonably priced and a soup that enters my top three in terms of football sustenance (a hotpot pie at Marine still up there).

On to the second half and it was a pretty open game with the ref happen to let things go and wave play on all over the place.  Hendon should have perhaps had a penalty due to some extreme shirt pulling but he let it go.  There was a little scuffle which could have seen two yellow cards, but he let it go.  Mendes lobs the goalkeeper after being blown up for being offside in the 90^th minute and got the first and only yellow and was called “stupid” by the ref too as he had worked so hard to avoid paperwork.

Before his fall from grace he scored a wonder goal.  A poor clearance saw the ball bounce in the box and sit up just above knee height and he latched onto it and it flew in off the inside of the bar.

Hendon did get one back to ruin Wells’ clean sheet bonus, which was a shame as he had pulled off a fantastic point blank save to send the ball high into the air.  A Hendon player was at hand to head it home but at the cost of Joe Howe who was trying to clear.  He went off injured which is unlucky considering he had only come on that half to replace Jerry.

A wonderful three points but a very different challenge on Saturday with the visit of Enfield Town.

Travelling Tanners

Christmas comes early for me this year as the gift of a new ground presents itself with a trip to Hendon on Saturday.  No more ground sharing with Harrow for them.

Life in their new ground hasn’t been easy, although three points easier than our season.  A win would take us above them on goal difference though as we look nervously over our shoulder at the relegation zone.

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

Needham Market 2 - 1 Tanners

I didn’t go to this game as I had made the long trip only to see a dominate second half performance thwarted by both the conditions and a failure to take their chances… and so history repeated itself.

We did at least score; Akindayindi pouncing on a poor clearance to take the lead on just 19 minutes.  A surging Needham run and powerful shot cancelled out that lead just three minutes later and a stunning free kick put us behind five more minutes after that.

Again we were strong in the second half but no end result other than for the substitute, Richard Seixas, to pick up two yellow cards.

NEW GROUND KLAXON for Saturday as we travel to Hendon…

Travelling Tanners

If Needham Market treat us as we treated our hosts in the week they will call this off at about 1.30: leaving us in limbo and potentially on the road.  I'd doubt they'd be that stupid to sit on pitch inspection results for an hour though...

They like to get a game on though.  Last year we arrived to see a freshly ploughed cabbage patch and we struggled with the conditions.

Needham Market continue to sit in the play-offs despite us grabbing an equaliser the last time we met.

Kick off at 3pm.  Good luck fellas.

Staines 2 - 5 Tanners

A superb attacking display stunned a Staines side who had scored 9 in their last 2 league games without reply.

Staines think they are more special than most by charging £12 to get in. They must have forgotten they are no longer in the Conference South. Their supporters haven't forgotten though as most of them decided to stay at home and watch the champions league.

The game started normally enough with not much between the sides. Then on 23' the Staines keeper decided to kick the ball to Adam who cashed in by passing to Akindayindi who scored at the 2nd attempt.

Then a great strike by Kadell Daniel saw us take a 2-0 lead. The goal was reminiscent of Vas who is on loan at Dulwich which is why we they loaned us Kadell.

Leatherhead were now on a rampage good enough to make Attila the Hun envious. It wasn't long before Akindayindi made it 3-0 on 39'. However, we were soon brought back down to earth by our nemesis. Another goal conceded by a breakaway from our own corner. Jimmy is considering a new tactic.....should we kick our corners straight out for a goal kick? Never mind it was half time and we were 3-1 up.

To be fair for the first 30' of the 2nd half Staines were all over us and scored on 56' and went very close on numerous other occasions. Somehow we weathered the storm and in a rare attack Theobalds came to our rescue on 77' to give us a 4-2 lead and calm the nerves. Daniel scored again on 87' to finish off a remarkable 5-2 victory.

The league table is starting to look a bit more healthy so Folkestone won't be quite so keen to visit us next Wednesday.

Tanners 1 - 3 Bognor Regis

As it was the last full day of my in-laws visit my son opted to spend time with them rather than watch the game.  “Did we win?” was the first thing he asked when I returned home with a face as hopeful and naïve as our approach to the game.  “Of course not Peter, we conceded three easy goals as we do nearly every week”, was my inevitable reply.

Let’s not dismiss Leatherhead completely, we are an attacking side with Daniel and Cash looking the most likely to create.  It is a pity that the most likely to score, Akindayini, is returning to his old club as with the loss of Bradbrook we will start to look light upfront.

The goal we conceded was a classic sucker punch from my most hated of routines; the short corner.  On this occasion the ball in did threaten but all too often we fail to take advantage of the free pass into the box and lose possession.  What the short corner always does is commit another player into the attack, so when the ‘keeper caught the ball from the left he could throw into the path of a now attacking player down the right.  The basketball equivalent of a fast break was on and with a low cross and a deft flick it was one nil before most of our players had a chance to get into our own half.

We did start the second half well, which created some excitement but soon the more experienced Bognor appeared to have it back under control.  The introduction of Rash Kamara made a huge difference to our attacking options down the left and he soon found himself on the score sheet.  His run on the edge of the box until he had room to shoot, beat the ‘keeper.  His celebration was a thing of wonder, taking all the hi-fives and hugs the referee would allow.

The ref then decided to play (or not play) a part in the game for us.  Momentum had firmly swung in our favour and we were soon on the attack again.  A clever ball put Kamara in with only a Bognor player between him and the ball.  He feigned to go on the inside but then switched to the outside, the marking player did not anticipate this and lunged hopefully for the ball but caught Kamara in the box.  Now it was blatant enough but there were two further clues for the ref to react.  Firstly the marking player was wearing the number 9 shirt, therefore the most likely to mistime a tackle.  Secondly, this player suddenly seemed injured.  The ref bottled it and also went onto not see a shot blocked with an arm, claiming it was a chest.

Even without the penalties we should have had enough about us to close in on at least a point… but that would completely ignore how we have played this season.

First of all we over committed on an attack and gave the ball away in midfield with no one in place to cover the attack down the right.  The low short was powerfully smashed into the back of the net.  The third goal, bloody hell.

 

Playing from the back in commendable.  Some of the best performances I have seen Leatherhead play is when we build with confidence from the back but confidence is something we lack.  There surely should come a time when panicked pass after another should be met with a good old fashioned “get rid” but no, we shuffled back until we practically passed it into our net.  I would have had more respect for Leatherhead if Jerry had just smacked it into the top corner so we had something to marvel at rather than watch our poor ‘keeper be placed under so much pressure he fumbled the ball into his own net.

Before the game I sat with some travelling supporters as they discussed their hopes for the season.  I told them if they didn’t score three against us they may as well forget their title chances.  Their hopes are still alive while we go into Tuesday's game in need of a miracle.  

Bognor Regis are coming

Tomorrow the level of opposition increases considerably from the mid-week opponents of Molesey (of which we struggled), with the visit of second place Bognor Regis.

Our visitors sit in second place with an impressive goal difference of 16, the second highest in the league.  With our goal difference of -6 I hope we have worked on our defence.

Kick off at 3pm.  See you there.

 

Molesey 0 - 1 Tanners

Scruffy, scrappy, and messy but at last Leatherhead become the knocker, and not the knockee, in a knock-out competition. And there was more good news… there was no sign of Chuck Martini.

A strong Leatherhead side was sent into battle and we hoped for a comfortable win but this was far from comfortable.  Molesey battled the whole way through and had the best of the chances but were profligate in front of goal.

A dull, drab, dank, dreary, disappointing, first half ended goalless and almost ball less as all the match balls ended up in the surrounding new build houses. Jimmy screamed "look after the ball" but his words went unheeded.

The only goal of the game was a header from Mo Sagaf early in the 2nd half. Molesey then deliberately had a player sent off to try and make us panic. It worked. We did indeed panic. Jimmy urged everyone to calm down. No one did. Luckily it didn't matter as Molesey spurned their chances to equalise.

We march on triumphantly into the draw for the last 16. Ties are due to be played early January.

 

Travelling Tanners

The best kept secret in Surrey football.  Leatherhead travel to Molesey in the next round of the Surrey Senior Cup on Tuesday night.  After a weekend of playing with ourselves who knows what side will be put out in this cup game.  A chance to rest players ready for the next friendly?

We have not played our hosts for about three years, where we beat them 1-0 in the same competition.

If you’ve forgotten the way to Molesey you can find directions here.  Kick off at 7.45.  Good luck fellas!

 

Leatherhead 3 - 1 Lowestoft

Leatherhead got a much needed win before entering a two week pre-winter break thanks to a new look team.  Overall this management lark seems easy; simply find a player who has experience of playing six leagues above…

What was been heralded on the message board was the arrival of Ricketts.  I took a seat on the halfway line for this one and he controlled the game for us.  Constantly telling his team mates to slow it down and where to pass while making telling contributions of his own.  The most telling was to set up the equaliser for new boy Akindayini, a cute through ball for him to run onto and smash pass the ‘keeper.

Before that it looked all too familiar for Leatherhead though.  After just a few minutes we found ourselves hemmed in and failed to deal with a low cross in the box and it was prodded home from close range.

I appreciate I have described the goals in reverse order there but that sets the tone for the rest of the report.  How often have I had to praise first half performances to then go ballistic over the second half “effort”?  Not this game though.

There were times though it felt like the win was not going to come.  First of all we appeared to have a perfectly good goal disallowed for offside.  A pass found Daniels (I think) who passed backwards to Ricketts (I think) who buried the shot.  The lino only then put up his flag; the ref had a lengthy chat and ruled it out for offside.

The ref knew it was a dodgy decision so promptly awarded us a soft penalty.  Now here is where Lowestoft exposed the ref’s lack of control.  Two players stood in the area and questioned where the ball was placed for quite some time.  The ref allowed this to happen and the pressure on Akindayini grew and told as he dispatched a tame spot kick.  The cheating and smug laughing from the visiting supporters sat near me angered the footballing gods and the game swung dramatically in our favour…

No one will know what was going through the Lowestoft’s defender’s mind as the ball was heading out for a goal kick at waste height but something told him to try and catch it… just inside the area.  The ref, almost apologetically, awarded a second penalty which was put away with ease this time by Ricketts.

The silly penalty was a cruel blow for Lowestoft but it was the turn of the Leatherhead fans to laugh smugly when a Smith free kick took a wicked deflection and wrong footed their ‘keeper.

3-1 it ended and the players rewarded the fans by walking straight off to take their applause rather than making us wait while they jog around.

So that is it for two weeks, although there rumours of friendlies...

 

Lowestoft are coming

Today we welcome Lowestoft Town to the Grove, and according to my records this is the first time we have played in a long while.  The chance to play Lowestoft was simply too much for some players, with Sole, Tomi and Charlie (who?) all leaving with some players coming on board in return.

The club will be showing the early FA Cup game featuring our local rivals Merstham if you want to get to the club house early.  There is (strangely) a happy hour for the Chelsea v Everton game and not the FA Cup fixture…

Kick off at 3pm.  See you (and my father-in-law) there!

 

Farewell Kev Terry

The next match for Dorking Wanderers is a league game this Saturday at South Park, in what will be Kev Terry’s final game for Dorking Wanderers as he is moving to Australia having played over 600 matches between Leatherhead Football Club and Dorking Wanderers.

The club will be making a presentation to Kevin after the game, so if any Levred fan fancies a break from the Lowestoft game you are welcome to attend.  If not you can wish him luck via twitter (@trevterry7).

 

Tanners 4 - 3 Forest Green

While sparsely attended, the game proved to be quite entertaining with several boxes ticked.  Win, tick.  Goals throughout the team, tick.  Three goals conceded, tick.

It took a while for Leatherhead to get comfortable with the situation.  Forest Green looked the more likely to open the scoring while we lamented the loss of precious Xbox time. 

Shortly after both sides went close we got our goal.  The new boy from Dulwich receiving the ball at the top of the box and made room to fire into the bottom left hand corner.  Calum made it 2-0 after pouncing on a spilt catch from the ‘keeper.

Two nil up at half time… we’ve been here before.

Forest Green came out determined to put on a show for their two Godalming based supporters who had made the trip.  Their first goal coming from a powerful drive down the right and a low shot into the corner.  The second from a deflected shot that flew up into the air but their player responded first and headed into an empty net.

What was so fantastic about this situation was that, due to low key celebrations, a number of fans had missed one or both the goals so there was varying degrees of happiness as they thought it was 2-0, 2-1 or 2-2.

Shortly after we ironed out the actual score line the visitors were awarded a penalty which was put away to keep our batting average in check.  To be fair these three goals came after Jimmy had made a triple substitution.

Then the fight back.  First Tomi burst into the box and was rewarded with a deflection assisted goal.  Then it was our turn to take a penalty as our player was brought down in the box.  Although the ref was also treating this like a friendly and making some experimental decisions as it looked a bit soft to me.  Sole stepped up to send the 38 people in attendance wild.

On to Lowestoft then, which looks to be ruined by a visit of my mother and father in law…