Leatherhead 2-0 Sittingbourne

The first ever meeting between these two sides ended in a victory for the Surrey side, writes Peter Pitts.

Sittingbourne's defence seemed to be missing the steadying influence of captain James Campbell and Lee Hockey who are both still injured whilst the front line although welcoming back Mark Lovell from Nationwide Conference South side Welling United, could have done with Jon Neal's ability to hold the ball up whilst others get into position, Neal is also injured.

Still Leatherhead deserved their victory scoring a goal in the first half in which Sittingbourne competed well and another in the second when they fell away a bit.

The game started with a chance for both sides, Scott Bennetts firing wide on 2 minutes and Mitchell Sherwood for the Brickies having a shot blocked.

The Brickies defence with Tristan Knowles in an uncustomary midfield defensive role wasn't always looking comfortable.

On 19 minutes James Greenaway blasted the ball over the Brickies bar from a corner and on 24 minutes a good run by Marc Charles-Smith ended in him tumbling in the area but the referee saw nothing wrong.

Leatherhead took the lead on 37 minutes when David Stevens got round Knowles and fired a good shot past Steve Williams in the Brickies goal.

Sittingbourne almost came back with an instant reply when Kieran Marsh won the ball and found Andy Doerr who let fly but his shot screamed across an empty goal.

Sittingbourne had the majority of the game in this half after this but the closest that they got was when Doerr found Marsh wide on the right and Marsh's shot struck a defender and was deflected for a corner.

The second period saw Leatherhead tighten their grip on the game. Dean Carpenter had a good chance in the first minute of the half but fired straight at Williams, then James Greenaway shot wide.

The alarm bells were ringing for the Brickies and on 49 minutes a long kick out by Leatherhead keeper Chris Gibson fell between Ricky Spiller and Charles-Smith, unfortunately for the Brickies Spiller appeared to slip letting in the Tanners striker who made no mistake in firing past Williams.

Leatherhead were on top now and Charles-Smith had another effort go just wide.

Sittingbourne briefly rallied with Sherwood's cross smartly headed goalwards by Smissen but Gibson saved well.

The Brickies then made all three substitutions in one go with Sabeur Trabelsi, Kam Singh and Reserves defender Dean Stephens replacing respectively Smissen, Sherwood and Gooding, and for a period the change breathed new life into the Brickies.

On 71 minutes a Marsh shot rebounded to Singh but his return shot hit the side netting.

Trabelsi was looking troublesome but for all the enthusiasm shown by Sittingbourne they rarely troubled Gibson.

They were, however, leaving gaps at the back, gaps that were being exploited by the Leatherhead forwards who luckily for the Brickies had left their shooting boots at home.

On 83 minutes Julian Thompson ran clear of the Brickies defence and found Bennetts who shot straight at Williams, then Stevens had a good scoring opportunity but he fired past the near post.

With three minutes left Sittingbourne almost pulled a goal back when Marsh let fly with one of his trademark long distance pot shots but the ball thumped against the top of the bar and bounced to safety.

The last shout however went to the Tanners in the shape of Thompson who fired well wide.

Strangely this season the Brickies seem to have strength in depth in the attacking third of the field but this defeat shows that when injuries strike they can be wanting in defence!

Sittingbourne: Williams, Spiller, Dowley, Ainsworth, Knowles, Marsh, Smissen (Stephens 64), Gooding (Singh 64), Doerr, Lovell, Sherwood (Trabelsi 64), Sub: Elder

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