Blues 3 Leatherhead 1

Leiston rounded off a difficult February with a good 3-1 win at home to Leatherhead to finally break their duck against the Tanners and keep themselves in with a play-off shout writes Mark Barber. In a match sponsored by ALLGLASS it was two goals from leading scorer Christy Finch, taking his tally to 16 in all competitions, and an injury time penalty from Jack Ainsley that were enough to help the Blues to all three points in an entertaining contest at Victory Road. The Blues, playing in their change strip of all red, started the game well and could have taken the lead on ten minutes. Jack Ainsley’s cross from the right hand side was flicked on by Tanners full back Adam Cash. Billy Clark, with plenty of space, controlled, feigned a shot, cut inside and finally got a right foot effort away from 10 yards. A wicked deflection took the ball onto the bar and it finally fell into the safe arms of ‘keeper Louis Wells. The home side took the lead on 20 minutes, a long ball down the right hand side from Jack Ainsley, was misjudged in the north easterly breeze by experienced Leatherhead centre half Steven Watt and Christy Finch nipped in to bear down on goal and side footed home for the opener. Nine minutes later Leiston doubled their lead. Seb Dunbar made a strong surging run into the box and was adjudged to have been fouled. Christy Finch was on hand to confidently double the home side’s lead from the spot. Leatherhead, with the wind advantage first half, certainly had plenty of possession and territory although rarely troubled Ashlee Jones in the home goal. They were dealt a blow just before half time when influential midfielder Alex Brown was forced off with a knee injury after coming off worse in a clean 50/50 challenge with Seb Dunbar. The second half was a much more open contest with no real chances of note in the first 15 minutes of the half. It was on 61 minutes that the Tanners found a way back into the game. Gareth Heath gave away a free kick mid way inside the Blues defensive half on the left hand side and Adam Green’s deep free kick found Phil Walsh at the far post who controlled smartly and fired low and hard past Ashlee Jones. Five minutes later the impressive Jack Ainsley forced a good low save from Louis Wells, getting down quickly to his left to turn Ainsley’s goal bound effort round the post. The resulting Billy Clark corner was met by skipper Tom Bullard whose header cannoned off the underside of the bar and down. There was a loud and prolonged appeal by the home team that the ball had crossed the line but the officials were unmoved. With regard to Jack Ainsley he has the air of a confident player who makes the game look easy at times and looks an excellent addition to the squad. In fact there were several stand out performers in the team on Saturday. We know about Ashlee Jones’ quality in goal and that of the regular back four. Kelsey Trotter also looks to have comfortably made the step up to first team level, doing the basics well and doing a lot of unseen good work. Billy Clark looks a lot fitter than from a few months ago and at times oozes quality, just lacking perhaps a cutting edge in the final third. On 79 minutes the away team were reduced to 10 men when winger Kiernan Mason-Hughes was dismissed for foul and abusive language towards the linesman. He took exception to being penalised for a foul on Seb Dunbar who was at the heart of a lot of decisive points of the game. He launched a tirade against the nearside linesman who was quick to inform referee Sean Feerick and he produced the red card. It looked as though Leatherhead’s chances of getting back in the game left with Mason-Hughes and in added on time substitute Jake Taylor did well to get in behind Adam Green and was clearly hauled down. With Christy Finch having left the pitch Jack Ainsley took over the spot kick duties and comfortably wrapped the game up for the home team. A good return to winning ways for the Blues whose attention now turns to the trip to Harrow Borough next Saturday.

FT - Blues 3 Leatherhead 1

Blues - Jones, Saker, Dunbar, Trotter, Jefford, Bullard, Ainsley, Heath, Ottley-Gooch, Finch (Taylor 90 mins), Clark (Winter 90 mins). Subs not used - Kerslake, Mansfield and Rossis.

Leatherhead - Wells, Cash (Okoh 91 mins), Green, Campbell, Watt, Nnamani, Brown, Seakula, Walsh, Collin, Hughes-Mason. Subs not used - Mahal, Bailey and Gallagher.

Match Sponsors ALLGLASS Man of the Match - Tom Bullard

Attendance - 189