Tanners thump Casuals

Bob Langford was able to field an unchanged side but with the added boost of a returning Tom Hutchings who started from the bench.

The Tanners set out their intentions from the start. Blocked shots from Ben Shannon and some desperate defending kept man of the match Jason Henry at bay but it did not take very long for the home side to make their breakthrough. Will Jenkins was originally signed by Ian Hazel to be converted from a centre back to a forward but a serious foot injury has meant that he has been drafted back into the heart of the defence. A throw in from the right found Jenkins with his back to goal and, after a neat one touch control, he volleyed over his shoulder for the ball to crash off of the cross bar and into the net.

Casuals did up their game and started to put together some flowing passing movements but lacked sharpness in the last third of the pitch. When they did threaten, they found John Cartledge and scorer Jenkins more than capable of dealing with the inevitable high ball through the centre. The visitors could have evened things when the excellent Chris Lewington saw a curling shot from Paul Hunt rebound off the angle of the bar and post to safety – it was a very good effort.

Leatherhead were unable to extend their lead any further despite dominating most of the half. Billy Marshall had one of those days when he found space but was unable to convert. The chances were there for a hat trick but he was unable to break his season’s duck in the league.

The second half started with a disastrous error in the Casual’s defence. A long punt from Lewington was stroked on by Kev Terry for visiting skipper, Chris Horwood to slice an attempted clearance under pressure from Marshall over his keeper and into the goal. Although Leatherhead never looked like losing this game, they did not look as sharp as the previous week but, with the prospect of Tom Hutchings to add considerable danger to the attack, the match was looking to slide away from Casuals. This was underlined by a third goal with just 15 minutes to go. Another long clearance enabled Kev Terry to easily outpace a flagging defence and slip the ball round Colin Harris for his third goal in the two games he has had since re-joining Leatherhead from Banstead.

Leatherhead were, by now, coasting and the tiring Terry was replaced by another promising young player with pace in Mark Elston. Causlas were not dead yet. The Tanners defence doid not deal with a through ball from the right and, despite an excellent block from Lewington, Joe Nwoko reacted the quickest to stab the ball home at the second attempt – despite a despairing lunge from John Cartledge.

By now Marshall had given way to Tom Hutchings and the striker – who had become increasingly frustrated by his weather induced extended three match ban had started to stamp his authority on the game and cause Casual’s defence all sorts of problems with his close control and aggressive running. He received his just reward with one of most spectacular goals of the season so far. A ball into the area was flicked over his marker with the outside of his boot and crashed into the top corner of the goal from a stinging left foot shot that Colin Harris did not even see.

This was a good solid performance from the whole team. With the added confidence that a talented goalkeeper that Chris Lewington brings, the fdefence has a solid look too it and with pacy forwards in Hutchings, Terry, Marshall and the excellent and hard working Jason Henry, this is a Tanners side that has the ability to progress toward the play-off places – provided they can keep their consistent winning ways.

Team Lewington, Palmer, Shannon, Cartledge, Jenkins, Holmes, Wilfort, Cuff (Musungu), Marshall (Hutchings), Terry (Elston), Henry