Worthing 6 Leatherhead 0

The Rebels were poised to take over at the top of the Ryman League Division 1 South after Kingstonian’s defeat at the hands of Croydon Athletic the previous evening and with Whitstable beating second place Ashford Town 4 – 1, they consolidated their place at the top of the league.

The Tanners were without an injured Iain Hendry (still suffering the effects of a dead-leg gained against Fleet) and Kev Terry who had hurt his back.

Tom Moorhouse dropped back in defence with John Wilfort filling in up front. Chris Lewington returned in goal following his knee injury.

In truth, Worthing were not 6 goals better but put in a powerful performance that the Tanners could not match despite having a food deal of territorial advantage. On the night, the Rebels put away their chances with clinical precision.

The match started promisingly enough for the Mole Valley side. An early mistake from Ross Treleaven allowed a far post cross to be swung in but Jason henry, arriving late, could only find the side netting.

Within minutes, the home side showed their intentions where the first of a series of long throws was not dealt with by the defence and Chris Lewington had to perform acrobatics to keep the ball out for another corner.

The pressure paid off after just 5 minutes. Once again, Worthing found the ball at the edge of the Tanners area, and Jamie Brotherton had time to pick his spot and steer a low shot beyond the reach of a diving Lewington.

6 minutes later, Tommy Moorhouse was beaten for pace down the left hand side and the ball was played in for skipper, Ben Andrews to round Lewington for the Rebels’ second.

This was, by no means, one way traffic. Straight from the re-start, Tom Hutchings showed great control and hit a superb cross field ball to Steve Goddard whose low shot was saved by the excellent Andy Alexander in the Worthing goal. The resultant corner was barely scrambled away.

Steve Goddard has impressed on his handful of outings for the Tanners but succumbed to a bruised ankle inflicted on him by some robust Fleet tackling on Saturday. A knock on the already injured leg saw him replaced midway through the first half by Ben Shannon.

It took until the 30 minute mark for the Rebels to score their 3rd. Yet another long through was not dealt with and Andrews stabbed home his second. If Leatherhead entertained any hopes of pulling the game back, they had disappeared within 5 minutes.

Yet again Brotherton was given far too much room and he completed his brace with ease.

For much of the half, the play was concentrated in the Worthing half but the home side had defended well and made the most of their chances. The Tanners had not played badly but were up against a side who are showing to be one of the most powerful sides in the division.

The 5th goal was pure farce. An attempted quick free lick from Tommy Moorhouse hit a Worthing player and the resultant break ended with Ross Treleaven converting while the Tanners were appealing for the kick to be re-taken.

After the break, the game continued in much the same pattern with the Tanners working hard to get back into the game but against a Worthing side who just had to cotain them, there was no way back. Tom Hutchings could have done better when a near post first half header found him in the 6 yard area but, typically of the Tanners’ night he blasted over.

Later in the game Dev Williams played a superb through ball that left him on a one against one against the keeper.

Alexander had had a sound game all evening and his block saw the ball spinning away for a corner. It was one of those nights.

With less than 20 minutes to play Richard Greenfield found the net to hand the Tanners an unprecedented 6 goal defeat.

The goal tally fletterd the visitors but the win did not and leatherhead will now need to re-group ahead of their road trip to Folkestone Invicta on Saturday.

Team Lewington, Williams, Palmer, Moorhouse, Cartledge, S. Holmes, Goddard (Shannon), Cuff (Jones), Hutchings, Wilfort, Henry