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Dulwich 1 - 1 Leatherhead
Tanners travelled to Dulwich and returned the more satisfied of the two sides as an injury time equalizer gained a deserved, if belated share of the spoils.
As at Fleet, Leatherhead were sharply out of the blocks, with a Tommy Hutchings effort being well held by the keeper, but just as on Tuesday night the 7th minute proved unlucky as a corner was only half cleared by Dominic O Shea and Hamlet’s Ryan James crashed the ball home from 10 yards.
The match then became increasingly scrappy, with neither side finding any real fluency, perhaps not surprising as both teams have been substantially rebuilt during the close season.
However, midway through the half the game burst in to life, firstly Michael Morgan’s clever chip was athletically tipped over the bar by Dulwich custodian Tim Roberts, and then moments later Tanner’s keeper Craig Bradshaw pulled off a brilliant save diving to his left to deny a rasping 20 yard drive that was destined for the bottom left hand corner of the net.
Tanners then went straight back up the other end with Morgan’s clever pass finding Agyei in space behind the Dulwich backline, and once again Roberts just managed to palm over his headed effort, and the resulting corner came to nothing.
Leatherhead were again nearly made to pay for failing to take their chances when right on the stroke of half time Dulwich almost doubled their lead as a right wing free kick floated just past the far post.
Mick Sullivan’s half time talk clearly galvanized the Tanners, as they came storming out after the interval and the Dulwich keeper was forced to pull of a finger tip to deny a Morgan header following a fine cross from Josh Smith, and then from the ensuing corner Agyei found himself one on one with Roberts but a heavy first touch led to him lobbing narrowly over.
The game then descended into a midfield battle, and in an effort to shake things up Tony Cuff replaced Tommy Hutchings with Dom O Shea pushing up front, and then Ross White replaced Josh Smith.
After 70 minutes Boulter had a header tipped over, and Dulwich raced down the other end with Bradshaw flinging himself to his right to save another fine strike from distance.
Just as the game seemed to be petering out for a home win for the Hamlet, Agyei was bundled over on the left and from Cuff’s well flighted free kick Boulter climbed highest to nod the ball back across the Dulwich keeper and into the corner of the net, sending the travelling Tanner’s fans into raptures.
Dulwich barely had time to restart the game before the final whistle signalled it was to be point apiece.
Leatherhead’s first three results of 2-0, 0-1 and 1-1, have precisely replicated the start of last season: on Tuesday night Tanners entertain Eastbourne Town at the Grove and doubtless Mick Sullivan will be hoping to break that sequence and improve upon the 3-3 draw which followed.
Leatherhead: Craig Bradshaw, Dean Gunner (James Hancock), Chris Boulter, Iain Hendry, Luke Adams, Hassan Nyang, Michael Morgan, Josh Smith (Ross White), Dominic O’Shea, Kwabena Agyei, Tommy Hutchings (Tony Cuff)