Hornchurch are coming

Fifth place Hornchurch come to the Grove today, in what will be a tough game.

The away fixture was a one-that-got-away fixture as we took an early lead, failed to double the lead moments later and then conceded a very late equaliser (while almost losing it with a save in the last few seconds).

The sun is out; bar open; kick off at 3pm.  See you there! 

Travelling Tanners

A long trip to face a high flying Enfield Town is in store for Leatherhead today.  

Sitting in third place with the second highest number of goals will mean all of the newly formed resilience we have seen will be fully tested today.  Hopefully they will put up a better fight than some of my fence panelling.

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

Tanners 2 - 2 Bognor Regis

It looked like a well earned point, until you see the video evidence and you realise a terrible decision costs us yet again...

Leatherhead again looked competitive but this time with a more attacking edge.  The first half wasn't exactly all out attack but we had two penalty shouts waved away (standard) and the ball struck the bar after forcing their 'keeper into a fine save.

Second half is where it all really happened.  Lamont opened the scoring past an injured injured 'keeper, whose damaged hand was not strong enough to keep his long range out.  Bognor's choice to play an injured 'keeper was bold, but when you haven't scored at home for nearly 6 hours it probably didn't seem like such a gamble at the time.

1-0 and we were starting to drop deeper to defend and were faced with a string of opportunities to clear a ball but failed.  1-1.

Then the controversy.  At the time, from 100 yards away it looked a bizarre decision and the video evidence doesn't make much more sense either.

A ball into the box was collected by our 'keeper... he got their first and turns his back to protect himself from the challenging player who, if anything, makes a late tackle (a yellow card?).  The striker then hauls our 'keeper to the floor (a further yellow card or straight red?) and the ref runs backwards while looking at all of this to make up his mind... penalty to Bognor and one yellow to their player.

2-1 it looked like we were robbed of anything until the ref did see and obvious push in the box.  Up stepped German, who had missed a one on one earlier, to grab an equaliser.  

Jermain was brought down in  the box minutes later but the ref's incompetence didn't stretch to awarding the same team two penalties.  Archie Burnett had the ball in the back of the net but the assistant decided, unlike his incompetent opposite number at the other end, to assist and rule it out for offside.

Frustrating but on we go with a visit from Lewes on Tuesday...

Bognor Regis Town are coming

Tuesday night saw a battling performance against Margate rewarded with a point.  It could have been more when a defender "unintentionally" batted the ball away to safety with his hand in the second half.

Tomorrow we place similarly placed opposition in Bognor Regis.  A side that narrowly beat us 3-2 earlier in the season after we took an early lead.

Kick off at 3pm.  See you there!

Margate are coming

Saturday saw a battling performance away at Cheshunt which resulted in a 1-0 loss.  Our last 15 minutes could have been worth more but we were thwarted by an excellent 'keeper.  That said, our new 'keeper pulled off a fine doble save in the first half.

Tonight we continue with our run of tough games with the visit of 9th placed Margate.  A side that we lost 4-2 away earlier in the season.  Some loan recalls and injuries means a couple of new signings will be on show tonight...

Kick off at 7.45.  See you there!

Travelling Tanners

A long trip today against another well placed side in Cheshunt.

I thought we had turned a corner when we faced them at home.  We had just won 2-0 and the then goal hero struck early… we went on to be worn down for a 2-1 loss.

Kick off at 3pm.  Good luck fellas!

Tanners 0 - 0 Bishop's Stortford

After the euphoria of the away win it was down to the mucky business of grinding out any kind of result at home.  If we only played away, we would be in a comfortable 13th place but for some reason the green green grass of the Grove has not proved to be a happy hunting ground.

There were three moments that summed this game up for me.  A headed clearance off our line in the first half; along with a dive and a struck post in the second.  On another day that would be two conceded goals and a penalty kick awarded against us.  Not today.

Another key moment came in the second half when their no 14, already booked for not retreating 10 yards for a freekick, decided he wanted to pull one of our players down by the neck.  A brief mele followed and the ref dished out several yellow cards; one of which was to the instigator who now saw red.

The visitors are a tough side and despite facing 10 men for the second time in a row our main objective was to compete and keep them at bay.

So, after the heavy defeat at Worthing we have gone on to collect 5 points from three games and suddenly Cheshunt just seems a few miles closer...

Bishop Stortford are coming?

Have I been to Bishop Stortford? That doesn't matter now as the third place team are coming to The Grove.

Our home record is a disaster but the away win and new look team may give them a surprise.

Kick off at 3pm.  See you there!

Haringey 2 - 3 Tanners

A fantastic day on the road all round for Leatherhead as we get a vital win on the road.

The day started early for me, in a pub that was stated as being in the top 6 pubs in Kings Cross but certainly wasn't.  I had somehow persuaded Guy to join me and we discussed our chances.  

After a couple of Madris we headed to Wood Green where Guy insisted we buy a "walking beer"... a can of Polish beer for the journey.  I could feel my membership to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales being revoked with every step.

Onto the game and a bright start was soon replaced by Haringey pressure.  Suddenly a cross was met by a player who cleverly adjusted his run to beat his marker to head it home for 1-0 to the hosts.

The half wore on and as the pressure grew so did the need for me to stare at my feet and there between the gaps in the decking I spotted the wink of Winston Churchill.  A not-so-crisp £5 note lay there and with no obvious tools I employed child labour and the hand of Chloe to grab it.  It was that "we will never surrender" spirit that soon filtered out onto the pitch.

The first miracle was that we were awarded a penalty kick.  A clear mistimed tackle was spotted and up stepped Bohui to send the 'keeper the wrong way.  We should have had a penalty moments later when not one but two players were pulled back when trying to run onto a through ball... but ref had deployed the only one penalty per team law.

Going in 1-1 would have been something to celebrate, so when Archie Burnett pounced on a loose ball in the box and smashed it home from close range to make it 2-1 it caused pints of Guinness to be splattered everywhere.

Second half and normal service resumed when the ref saw a ball strike the hand and awarded the 12th penalty kick against us.  It struck the post but snuck in.

The game did swing back in our favour when one of their players saw his second yellow but Haringey had nothing to lose and still looked to win the game.  At this point the ref went a little bit rogue and failed to see an obvious foul on the edge of the box.  This coincided with my third pint of Guinness, so for the resulting tarade I issued I am truly sorry.

We wanted to win it too as opportunities like this won't come often and it came when a saved shot fell to McGlashan who slotted it under the 'keeper on 89 minutes. Wild scenes followed and well throughout the final few minutes until the handsome ref blew for full time.

Off we marched to Finsbury Park for a couple of Neck Oils to finish off a night that ended with a missed train and a lost bag.

Quite the match to set us up for a friendly Tuesday before another big game on Saturday...

Travelling Tanners

Tomorrow we travel to Haringey Borough, a side many feel we were unfairly denied all three points by a lino who saw a handball where no one else did.

I understand Antonio will be available, so with a proven goalscorer seagulls will be circling in anticipation of Woody throwing his chips up into the air.

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

Cray 0 - 0 Tanners

Luke must have had a bone to pick with a number of his players as a couple announced their departure via Twitter.  With Antonio's international clearance still pending it meant we fielded a weaker side than we would have liked.

This was a game played out by two sides at the bottom of the table and this was largely reflected in the quality of the game.  Cray Wanderers probably had the better of the first half in terms of chances.  Had Manny not been in such form we may have found ourselves a couple down.  We did have some good spells, though.

There were some moments of madness from the referee in the first half.  A tackle brought down our player and the ball ran out of play.  The referee indicated a goal kick... so the defender didn't make contact with the ball it seems.  Then a Cray defender, on a couple of yards from the ball, prevented a quick free kick... the ref allowed play to continue with Cray now in possession.

So with these two first-half blunders under his belt it was hardly surprising when he was called upon to make a difficult decision of whether someone being pulled back in the back was a penalty he bottled it.

We did play a lot better and looked the most likely to score although we did manage to gift them a chance at a completely open goal after Manny came to catch a ball over one of his defenders and dropped it but we managed to block it somehow.

A point is better than nothing but the games are starting to run out...

Travelling Tanners

Leatherhead hit the road tonight when we face Cray Wanderers in one of those "must win" games.

New players come in with Antonio being the latest having received international clearance.  Hopefully that will give us more threat than we offered against Worthing.

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

Worthing 4 - 0 Tanners

The last time Leatherhead made a major change to the management they lost their opening game 5-0 away to Lewes.  This time we only lost 4-0... so... baby steps and all that...

Leatherhead didn't do much wrong - in fact for the first 20 minutes they were very much in control of the situation - they were just overrun by a very good side.  On 25 minutes it started to unravel though.  Our achilles heel were long diagonal balls which their pacey strikers could run onto.  This caught us out and put them 1-0.  The pre-match optimism of grabbing a 1-0 win turned to a 1-1 draw... but this only lasted 60 seconds until the next diagonal ball was chased, crossed in and finished to make it 2-0.

This effectively put the game to bed and when they headed home a corner shortly before halftime this should have caused many of the travelling fans to head for the exit... but they didn't.  They stuck around to the end to out-sing the home fans.

Second half and 3-0 became 4-0 just through sheer weight of numbers in their breakaway attack.  At this point four Worthing "fans" joined us to goad us a little.  I am not sure how small your penis needs to be to do this to supporters of a club that are both bottom of the league and 4-0 down but try it they did.  If anything it only served to raise our spirits and cause louder singing and off they went to google the names of the Worthing players.

So.  A big loss but that won't matter if we get a result on Wednesday...

Travelling Tanners

After the disappointment of a late postponement last weekend we travel to Worthing today for Luke's first competitive game.

A lot has changed since his arrival, with some big names arriving at the Grove. Let's hope they settle in time for kick off!

Kickoff at 3pm.  See you there!

Dorking Wanderers are coming

The Advertiser Trophy Take II.   Winner takes all!  That isn't the official line but that is what I declare should we pull off a win tonight... Dorking Wanderers are coming tonight for this free friendly.

I did raise an eyebrow when I saw this.  Perhaps a slightly lower placed opposition would have allowed for a better learning experience but still a good chance for the new manager to see what is what.

Kick off at 7.45.  See you there!

Margate are coming!

Eighth place Margate come to the Grove to play out this soggy-league match.

Luke has had a chance to bring in a few new faces as well as a welcome recall of the Dorking Tower.

Kick off at 3pm.  See you there (from 1.30)!

Travelling Tanners

Leatherhead's tough run of games continue with a trip to Folkestone.  A side that find themselves in fourth place, despite losing to Margate on New Years Day… a side we face at home - at home! - on Saturday.

The players have chipped in to leave £50 behind the bar to any supporters making the trip.  Something for free would normally see me scurrying to the ground but alas I'm taking my in-laws to the airport.

Kick off at 3pm.  Good luck fellas.

Tanners 2 - 3 Ks

As I drove to the game I listened to Arsenal taking Man City apart and wondered whether we could perform a similar feat.  I then sat down in the club house and watched the current natural order of football play out and got a sinking feeling.

Leatherhead started the game in a positive mood with creative play coming mainly from Isaac.  On 34 minutes he went past a player and was through on goal, choosing to square the ball to Bakare rather than shoot.  It first looked like Bakare had taken a touch too many but his powerful shot went straight through the 'keeper.

Our lead lasted only a couple of minutes before a cross was prodded home by a desperate Leatherhead defender to notch up an own goal. Beats a penalty I guess.

The second half saw a much more determined Ks side and they put us under pressure.  Ironically it was from a rare piece of early Leatherhead pressure that they scored. A quick long ball from their 'keeper caught us out and they scored on the break.

Many Leatherhead fas would have assumed this was the killer blow and the game was lost.  No, that disappointment would come later.  An excellent cross was powerfully headed home by Hamilton Bunga; another player whose crisp paperwork bears my signature.

2-2 would have been a good result but then we get down to small margins that make the difference.  A Ks player picks up the ball 10 yards in his own half and goes on a run.  He was tracked by a Leatherhead player so the Ks player merely bent his run into the path of the tracking player and went down.  The ref duly gave it.  

The resulting freekick, some 40 yards out, still had plenty of opportunity to be defended before being headed across goal and blasted in, but these are the tricks our young squad are not familiar with.

2-3 it ends and we now have the prospect of going to Folkestone.  It is away at least...

Ks are coming

With Leatherhead looking at potentially getting a new manager I'm surprised we haven't "done a Newcastle" and got this game postponed… but we're better than that.

Today we welcome Ks as we enter the second half of the season. Winning games is now vital but the New Year fixtures were not kind… 

Kick off at 3pm… big game some come early to avoid the queues… see you there!

Tanners 0 - 2 Bowers & Pitsea

If symptoms of the Omicron Variant are a sense of abject defeat and depression then about 300 Leatherhead residents will need to go into isolation.  Today was horrible.  Again.

It didn't start to badly but when Bentley and Carrington limped off injured any threat we had disappeared and we would be lucky to come out with a 0-0 draw.

This hope was soon dashed when we conceded our 197th penalty of the season to go 1-0 down.  Not long after it was 2-0 and some supporters were already heading to the train station.

Plan C may mean Leatherhead's next few games could be called off...  as Leatherhead are already on Plan F this should come as welcome relief.