Isthmian South Central 18 Mar 2025
Hanworth Villa 0
Leatherhead 1
- Alex Pearce (90+3’)
Match Report
Coming off the high of a massive comeback win against Southall, Hanworth Villa were brought back to reality after conceding a last-gasp winner to Leatherhead.
Alex Pearce rose highest to connect with a 93rd-minute free kick, giving the away side a precious 1-0 win to stay alive in the promotion play-off race.
Villa remain fifth on 62 points, with a two-point cushion ahead of Hartley Wintney and Hayes & Yeading United, while Leatherhead are eighth on 57 points.
Manager Simon Haughney said: “Not the result we wanted, but like I said Saturday, we can’t take the highs to high and the lows too low.
“Very even game today, I thought a draw was a fair result. We had to defend the free kick, we didn’t and they scored. But you don’t get what you deserve in football all the time.
“All credit to Leatherhead they’ve come here and battled hard. We suck that one up and we’ll go again.”
A hotly-contested first half produced few chances until the 42nd minute.
Sam Merson, showing his awareness around the box, spun gracefully and flicked a cross toward the path of Louis Collins.
But an unmarked Collins could only fire from the edge of the six-yard box straight into the gloves of Leatherhead goalkeeper Sonny Wheeler.
Leatherhead threatened in the latter stages of the second half, and nearly snatched the opener in the 70th minute when Niran Butler put in a pinpoint cross into the penalty box.
Substitute Ty Butler struggled to make good contact with a badly timed header from point-blank range.
The away side continued to pile on pressure, as captain Kane Fitzgerald curled a spectacular long-range effort just past the wrong side of the post.
Minutes later, Mark Smith was called into action to deny another Leatherhead attacker with his feet.
A frantic closing 10 minutes nearly saw Villa take the lead, but after Merson’s deep cross preceded a bit of head ping-pong in the penalty box, Ben Mulley’s effort did not quite have enough pace to beat Wheeler.
Then, in the dying minutes of stoppage time, Leatherhead won a free kick after KJ Osu took a heavy touch and fouled an opposition player.
From that, a 93rd-minute deep delivery towards the far post found Pearce who made perfect contact with his head and the ball nestled into Smith’s bottom corner.
Haughney said: “I thought the quality at times today wasn’t as good as it could have been in deeper areas and up top. We didn’t really create any clear cut chances and we got punished for it.”
Villa will next travel to face second-placed Kingstonian in another big clash to decide the promotion play-off spots.
Haughney added: “Kingstonian are a fantastic side with a good management team. It’s going to be a very tough game again, a game we can win but we got to be on it.”