VLeatherhead 1 - 0 Corinthian-Casuals
(Simmons)
Mark Simmons secured Leatherhead’s fifth win in six matches with a well taken first half goal against Corinthian-Casuals.
Full credit should go to the Leatherhead groundsman and his team of volunteers for making the Fetcham Grove pitch playable after large sections in the middle were torn up during Saturday’s win against Whitstable.
Not surprisingly Leatherhead boss Mick Sullivan chose an unchanged starting line up for the Casuals’ visit.
Any thoughts of a repeat of Saturday’s 7-1 win were quickly ruled out in the manager’s programme notes. “I’m expecting it to be a close match with probably only one goal in it either way”, he said. And so it proved with limited chances at either end throughout the match.
Casuals had the best of the opening breaks, but apart from a couple of half chances from Liam Wright and Kane Sargent, the Tanners defence dealt with any high crosses floated into their area.
Leatherhead’s first attempt on the visitors’ goal came after 20 minutes, as Marc Elston broke away from his marker and fed the ball through to Elliott Thompson. But the former Raynes Park Vale midfielder saw his shot well blocked at the edge of the visitors’ box.
Leatherhead eventually went ahead after 28 minutes following their first corner of the match. The Casuals defence failed to clear their area and Iain Hendry found Rob Hill in a good shooting position. Hill’s attempt was blocked but fell kindly for Mark Simmons who had enough presence to look up and place his shot beyond Casuals’ keeper Luke Naughton.
There were few opportunities for either side in the first half, with deliveries into the box not played to feet and any high balls swept up by defenders. Tommy Hutchings managed a break away to put Matt Francis in a good position but Saturday’s four-goal hero saw his effort well cleared by Youssef Metwali.
In the second half Casuals had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down after 52 minutes when Jamal Carr appeared to be sandwiched between two Leatherhead defenders in front of goal.
Leatherhead stepped up a gear in the final twenty minutes in their attempts to prize open the Casuals’ defence. Hutchings attempted to lob Naughton from forty yards but saw his shot sail high over the bar. Elston fed the ball through to Hutchings to shoot but Naughton was well placed to make a good save.
The Tanners kept up the pressure in the dying minutes as Greg Andrews came on in place of Hutchings. Andrews pulled the ball back to Thompson on the edge of the box but his weak header was easily snapped up by Naughton.
Leatherhead’s best chance for a second goal came as the match moved into stoppage time. Andrews won the ball in the centre of the visitors’ half and fed it through to Elston running into the box. Elston needed to control the ball and take it around Naughton. But he allowed it to run too far and the Casuals keeper bravely collected at his feet.
Leatherhead were nevertheless worthy winners and the three points lifts them up two places in the table to thirteenth. With games in hand over teams immediately above them, a top ten finish is no longer a distant dream for the Tanners.
Leatherhead: Colin Harris, Jon Coke, Adam Goodwell, Chris Boulter, Iain Hendry, Rob Hill, Matt Francis (Luke Pigden), Mark Simmons, Marc Elston, Tommy Hutchings (Greg Andrews), Elliott Thompson.
Corinthian-Casuals: Luke Naughton, Youssef Metwali, Byron Brown, Scott Hassell, Wayne Finnie (Ali Wiltshire), Scott Corbett, Jamal Carr (Julian Owusu-Bekoe), Jason Turley, Calton Murray-Price (Dale Hennessey), Kane Sargent, Liam Wright
Match Report by Rod Ellis