Richard Brady believes Leatherhead are poised to escape the Ryman Premier drop zone after climbing to their best position this season.

The Tanners recovered from a 5-0 thumping by Bury Town at Fetcham Grove on Saturday to beat Margate 2-0 on Tuesday and rise to fourth bottom in the league and within one point of safety.

Having been in the bottom four all season, the chance to move out of the relegation places is finally within Leatherhead’s grasp and they will hope to grab hold of it when they host Wingate & Finchley next Tuesday.

“I don’t think we have ever been in this position this season,” said Brady.

“We are one point away from safety, with a game in hand and a better goal difference – we have put ourselves in the best position we could.

“Unfortunately, because Carshalton Athletic are in the FA Trophy, we do not have a game this Saturday when we would have liked to have played but we will focus on Wingate instead now.

“We need to keep the consistency up.”

Leatherhead, who will be without Vernon Francis (broken hand) and Liam Pestle (groin) for most of this month and Gary Drewett (ankle) for the rest of the season, bounced back from the weekend hammering with goals from Tommy Hutchings and Billy Manners against Margate.

But while Brady was pleased to get the points, he felt Saturday’s scoreline was a harsh one.

“Saturday was a bizarre game,” he said.

“We played some of the best football we have played all season and looked like going in 0-0 at half-time and end up going in 2-0 down.

“It took the wind out of us and we conceded early in the second half and that was that.

“We needed the game on Tuesday and it was a good performance to get three points in the bag.

“Before the game, we sat the players down and said Saturday was not a 5-0 and they should not be disappointed by it.

“It was important we went about the Margate game right and won it, which we did with a good goal from Tommy and another from Billy, which capped off a great performance from him.”