A second half hat-trick from Dave Stevens eased the Tanners to a repeat of the scoreline when the teams first met in October. 4-1 was however rather unkind to the Angels on this occassion, Tonbridge actually having the better of it at times - but goals win games. Leroy Huggins got the nod to start alongside Jon Main up front. With Nick Barnes suspended, "Razor" Powell started in midfield, and Lee Carey returned to Longmead to take his place in the midfield quartet leaving Danny Lye and Darren Smith starting on the bench. Lew Watts was passed fit to partner Steve Aris in central defence.

Both sides started the game playing fluent football. JJ saved well from Stevens, and a flowing Tonbridge move ended with Main's effort looping wide off a defender. The Angels continued to pressure, but Leatherhead took the lead on 21 minutes when central defender Lee Doherty, up for a corner, found himself perfectly positioned to divert Steve Sargeant's wayward shot from the edge of the box back inside the post.

Dolby volleyed past the angle after another fine Angels move, then Main missed his shot when Powell cut back Dobla's free-kick invitingly. Tonbridge finally levelled on 37 minutes when Leatherhead 'keeper Tommy Dunn clattered Main - Dolby buried the spot kick. The Angels could have nicked the lead before the break, Powell blazing over after Fraser Logan's initial strike was blocked. A Huggins header somehow stayed out of the visitors goal soon after the restart, but it all started to go wrong for the Angels as the half wore on.

With Tonbridge appealing for offside, the impressive Marc Charles-Smith ran through on goal - Watts' last-ditch tackle giving the referee little option but to award a spot kick. JJ got down well to save Stevens' effort though, and Watts escaped with a yellow card. The reprieve was short-lived. Stevens pounced on an underhit back pass to give Leatherhead the lead from an acute angle, and made no mistake with a second penalty when John Beales was harshly adjudged to have impeded Charles-Smith.

The Angels kept plugging away, Dolby, Carey and Huggins all getting in decent efforts, but the game was killed off with ten minutes left when Stevens curled his shot precisely beyond JJ after a quick exchange of passes with Dean Carpenter. There was still time for Dolby to thump the bar with a trademark free-kick, sub Jay May nodding the rebound over. It just wasn't going to be the Angels day.

Report by: Tony Browne

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