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...

Travelling Tanners

Another trip to the Robert Parker Stadium as we face Ashford Town tonight.  Leatherhead were not outplayed by the league leaders, although were at the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline.  The team has seen some movement too.  

Our hosts, meanwhile, sit just one point behind us.  So a win is vital to prevent a further slide down the table.

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

Basingstoke 2 - 0 Tanners

On paper, it would seem this was a comfortable win for the table toppers and while I am not saying it was particularly uncomfortable, in truth it was a little bit different.

Leatherhead managed to have the majority of possession and, while we didn't look particularly dangerous in front of goal, managed to hit the woodwork twice in the first half.  Once from a corner and another from a long range effort.

We had one (and perhaps a half) good penalty shout waved away and limited Basingstoke to few chances.

When the chances came for Basingstoke, they came fast.  The opening goal was set up by one pass to set the winger free down the right and then a cross to set up a strike on goal.

Half time we changed ends with little else to do due to the lack of a clubhouse.  To our disappointment, it soon became apparent that their supporters were not going to change ends.  

The levels of smugness have not been seen since we played Maidstone away.  There we had an inform striker who would help inflict their first home defeat of the season so we could go away happy (albeit soaked in beer).  

Here we had a ref who could see a foul on a player who was wide of the box and adjudge it to be a clear goal scoring opportunity and brandish a red card.  Perhaps the pressure of playing in front of 753 people was too much.

Despite only having ten men, we continued to take the game to the hosts but our efforts were snuffed out with a headed goal late in the game to make it 2-0.

Off to Ashford on Tuesday, then...

Travelling Tanners

The NEW GROUND KLAXON sounds as we head off to Basingstoke.  I initially thought I had ticked this one off, until I discovered they left The Camrose in 2019.

This was always going to be a tough game but, after a wobble has become a stumble, it could be that little bit harder.  A new striker does arrive though, which will be needed as this is a 3G pitch and so we will probably be without Tarpey.

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

Tanners 1 - 2 RVP

The historic treble is now off of the table, as we lost 2-1 to Raynes Park Vale last night.

A stunning Mullins header equalised in the first half, but an early second half RVP goal was the killer blow.  Things became harder on 68 minutes, when Puemo was sent off for two yellow card offences.

RVP were worthy winners in the end, with our 'keeper pulling off some fine saves.  On to the tricky away game at Basingstoke then...

Raynes Park Vale are coming

Tonight sees the arrival of Raynes Park Vale for the quarter final of the Surrey Senior Cup.  Our guests have won both of our two previous encounters in "friendlies", so it is about time we got a win.

Kick off at 7.45.  Good luck fellas.

Tanners 0 - 0 Uxbridge

As Nathan Jones found out last week, playing against 10 men can be a "hiding to nothing" as we struggled today.

The visitors were down to ten men after just three minutes, with their No 9 going in hard on our left back.  The scream was loud enough to warrant a red but with just a few minutes gone, these are the decisions the referees usually dodge.  Not today, and off he trudged.

Uxbridge then slowed the game down and made this all rather a non-event.  The ref did book their 'keeper for time wasting but, as he was unlikely to show a second for the same offence, it did little to speed up the game.

At times it was difficult to see where our extra man was and perhaps we should have gone down to nine to turn the tables on Uxbridge.  Tarpey came on and had a sniff of a one on one chance but their 'keeper came out quickly and smothered it.

0-0 it ends and on to Tuesday and the all important Surrey Senior Cup tie...

Uxbridge are coming!

After making genuine progress over the last few weeks, Leatherhead have their play-off rug swept from under them with two straight defeats.   We are now one point closer to the relegation places than we are the play-offs...

We can make amends today, with the visit of Unxbrigde who sit just beneath us on 31 points.

Kick off at 3pm.  See you there!

Southall 1 - 0 Tanners

Leatherhead travelled to Southall (well Stanwell) and left with very little chance of a play off place. After Marlow away we were starting to think it might be possible, but after two pointless league games we look to have run out of aviation fuel.

We started quite brightly utilising Hayden's Plan A "Pass The Ball".  The 'keeper dealt well with three shots on target and we looked the most likely to score. As the half wore on we started to create less, and the main interest was whether the huge gas holders behind the goal actually contained kerosene. John Loveridge was adamant that they did.

When the second half started we were expecting Hayden's Plan B "Pass the Ball Better" but it soon became clear that the players had other ideas and adopted Plan C "Give The Ball Away".  On 48 minutes Southall took the lead and never looked like losing it as we tired and started to look very ragged.

It was decided that Hayden should be spared a post match interview and having to give any messages to the downbeat Tanners fans amongst a meagre crowd of 108. Maybe The Southern Combination and Surrey Senior Cups can still provide some light and joy on an otherwise frustrating and fragmented season.