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Folkestone Invicta 2 - 2 Leatherhead
(a.e.t Folkestone win 5-3 on pens)
Leatherhead’s magical run to the Ryman One South play offs came to a cruel end on Tuesday with defeat in a penalty shoot out at Folkestone Invicta following a pulsating cup tie which ebbed and flowed from start to finish.
Folkestone would have been crowned League champions had they not received a ten point penalty midway through the season after entering a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) with creditors and shareholders. So they went into the match as firm favourites to progress to Saturday’s final.
Leatherhead boss Mick Sullivan made one change to the team that had started against Walton Casuals on Saturday with Luke Pigden coming in for Elliott Thompson in midfield.
The match was played at a fast and furious pace with Leatherhead attacking the open-terraced end in the first half. Tanners dominated the opening half hour and deservedly took the lead after 16 minutes. Mark Simmons floated a free kick into the box and Leatherhead captain Chris Boulter rose above the Folkestone defence to head home at the far post.
The Tanners continued to press forward and doubled their lead after 31 minutes. This time a corner was delivered to the near post and once again Boulter headed in past the increasingly flustered Folkestone defenders and goalkeeper.
The home side rallied in the second half and pulled a goal back with a series of passes finished by a Darren Smith shot after 58 minutes.
Folkestone realised they were back in with a chance to win the tie having looked beaten at half time and their equaliser came after 69 minutes. Frankie Chappell broke through the hesitant Tanners defence and poked the ball past Colin Harris in the Leatherhead goal.
Sullivan held off from making any substitutions for Leatherhead until late in the second half, with Greg Andrews replacing Jack Macleod and Gabriel Odunaike coming on for Kwabena Agyei in the last five minutes of normal time.
But the Tanners had a golden chance to book their place in the final after 88 minutes of play. Luke Pigden stole into the box and took the ball beyond the Folkestone keeper before he was brilliantly dispossessed by a recovering defender with the goal at his mercy.
Thirty minutes of extra time failed to produce a winner and so the tie had to be decided by penalties.
Folkestone went first and Darren Smith made no mistake, striking the ball firmly into the corner of the goal. Dan Dean hit Leatherhead’s first penalty equally hard and offered no chance to Jack Delo, the Folkestone goalkeeper.
The next five penalties all went past the two keepers, with Liam Friend, James Dryden and Brendon Cass scoring for the home side while Simmons and Andrews responded for Leatherhead.
At 4-3 down, Leatherhead’s Jon Coke stepped forward and attempted to place his shot towards the keeper’s left hand corner. Delo guessed correctly and got down well to block it, to the huge disappointment of Coke and all the Leatherhead fans that had congregated behind the goal.
It only remained for James Everitt to blast the ball beyond Harris to hand the tie, and a place in the final, to Folkestone.
And so a truly remarkable season comes to an end for Leatherhead. The team had risen from 16th position in the League at the beginning of February to finish the season in fifth place – a run that saw them lose only once in their last nineteen matches, with a League Cup win along the way.
Mick Sullivan and his Leatherhead management team can be rightly proud of their achievements in their first season at Fetcham Grove and they should have the nucleus of this young team available to build upon for next season’s campaign.
Folkestone Invicta: Jack Delo, Josh Vincent, Josh Burchell, Liam Friend, Frankie Chappell, Michael Everitt, Darren Smith, Liam Dickson (Brendon Cass), James Everitt, Simon Austin (Peter Williams), Jimmy Jackson (James Dryden)
Leatherhead: Colin Harris, Jon Coke, Rob Hill, Chris Boulter, Dan Dean, Luke Pigden, Kev Terry, Mark Simmons, Kwabena Agyei (Gabriel Odunaike, Michael Corbett), Tommy Hutchings, Jack Macleod (Greg Andrews)
Report by Rod Ellis