Men's football news
Written by: Stuart
Rooks boss Tony Russell is expecting his side to keep the momentum from Saturday’s 6-2 win at Margate up when Leatherhead arrive at the Dripping Pan tomorrow. The visitors are bottom of the Isthmian Premier League, with just four points so far and parted company with manager Nikki Bull after Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to Enfield Town.
However, that isn’t always a good omen for the opposition as Russell explains.
“It is never nice to see any manager leave their role. It is a lonely and thankless role sometimes and I wish him all the best. But we don’t know who will lead them into the game on Tuesday night, the formation or style of play and that does make it a bit tricky – we like to prepare for every game and don’t like the unknowns. But we go into the game with our confidence high thanks to that second half performance on Saturday.
“On Saturday we went in at half-time 2-1 down but were playing well – very similar to the games against Potters Bar Town and Hornchurch. We spoke calmly to the lads during the interval, encouraging them to keep to the plan as we knew that Margate couldn’t maintain their levels. In that second half we pinned Margate in and they simply couldn’t get out and we forced them to concede possession with constant pressure and we then exploited the gaps. It was a great performance against a really good Margate side, who had been unbeaten at home before Saturday.”
Leatherhead Form Guide
It has been almost two months since The Tanners recorded a league win, with a 3-2 victory at Bowers & Pitsea on the opening day of the season. The hat-trick hero on that day, Alexander Sami is the top scorer with 6 goals, although he missed Saturday’s defeat to Enfield Town due to injury. They progressed to the 2nd qualifying round of the FA Cup, having beaten Whitstable Town in a replay but lost 3-0 to Corinthian Casuals after a 0-0 draw.
Our last meeting – 7th December 2019 – Lewes 0 Leatherhead 1
In the fourth meeting of the two sides of the season, Leatherhead recorded their first victory thanks to a 4th minute goal by midfielder Simon Mensah in front of 524 fans. At the time the Rooks were in 18th place, facing a hard winter ahead.