Reds Bounce Back

Leatherhead 0

Uxbridge 1

Massimo Giamattei 32

After the disappointment of the home defeat by Rayners Lane on Saturday, some Uxbridge fans may have been concerned by this tricky looking trip to in-form play off chasing Leatherhead on Tuesday evening. The Reds though came away with a fine battling win, one of real heart and passion, throw in a penalty save and a red card, and all in all this was an excellent three points.

The game started in cagey fashion, with Leatherhead seeing plenty of the ball, but it was the visitors who fashioned the first chance on 7 minutes as the ever-willing George Moore cut in from the left but curled his shot over. Soon after, Harry Rush latched onto a Moore pass on the edge of the box, but his shot too was wayward. Leatherhead's best opening came on the quarter hour, when some good work on the wing, saw Matthew Everitt beat a couple of defenders, and his fine cross was intercepted by CJ Fearn at the near post and cleared for a corner – with the home sides attackers closing in behind it was a crucial intervention. The game then settled into a low-key affair with Uxbridge happy to sit back and hit Leatherhead on the break. This paid dividends in the 32nd minute when a ball into Massimo Giamattei outside the box, saw him turn and get a shot on target, this caught out Sonny Wheeler in the Leatherhead goal who initially must have thought it was going wide – however the ball had other ideas, and with Wheeler scrambling to get over, it went into the corner of the net. The game settled back into a similar pattern, with very little of note for the remainder of the half – that was until right on the whistle Uxbridge should have doubled their lead. Moore again at the heart of things did superbly to get in the box and get to the byline, his pull back was inch perfect to an unmarked Andrio Brandao, his low shot was on target but Wheeler somehow got to the ball with his legs – and although Moore wasn’t able to tap in from an offside position – the home side would have been delighted to only end the half 1 down.

HT 1-0

The second half was more of the same, with Leatherhead having plenty of possession, but the main threat was from set pieces with first a corner being headed narrowly wide, and then a free kick being whipped across the face of goal with nobody able to get a touch. Just after the hour mark, Uxbridge got another good chance when Ada Okorogheye used his strength to outmuscle the tanners defence, his low shot was well saved at full stretch by wheeler, would Uxbridge regret the missed chances? Things were made significantly more difficult on 70 minutes, when a ball over the top saw Kai Hobbs bring down his man, and referee Mr Bolland – not shy of administering cards all evening – brandished a second yellow for Hobbs, leaving the Reds to hang on for the best part of 20 minutes with ten men. It looked as though this wouldn’t happen as on 75 minutes Leatherhead earned a penalty when former red Anuar Ceesay was brought down in the box. Kane Fitzgerald stepped up, but Legg pulled off a fine save to preserve the lead. From then on with Uxbridge sitting back, Leatherhead enjoyed plenty of the ball, but the visitors defence held firm superbly marshalled by CJ Fearn, Legg was called into action on surprisingly few occasions – dealing with anything thrown at him comfortably. There was one late chance for the Reds as Okorogheye broke and fed Moore, but his shot was well blocked. There were then plenty of stoppages for substitutions and injuries which broke up the play – on a couple of occasions tensions boiled over between the players as Leatherhead desperately tried to find a way through, but it wasn’t to be and the Reds were delighted with an excellent victory, and move onto another real test away at Raynes Park Vale on Saturday.

FT 1-0

Att 334