A solitary goal from Carshalton was enough to secure all three points against Leatherhead on a blisteringly hot day at the War Memorial Sports Ground.

With hope of bouncing back after losing to Enfield on Saturday and registering their first win of the season, The Tanners fielded a strong line-up at a ground that hasn’t been kind to them in recent matches.

It took 20 minutes for the game to get going and the first chances of note fell to Leatherhead with Eddie Dsane and Craig McGee both firing wide when half chances presented themselves.

As the half wore on, it was The Robins who started to get a foothold and forced Zaki Oualah into two superb saves. The first saw him instinctively tipped the ball round the post after Omar Koroma broke the offside trap and the second was a smart low stop at his near post following a Paris Hamilton-Downes shot.

Before half-time, Martin McCarthy – acting as manager with Nikki Bull absent today – was forced into two early substitutions with both Izunna Ikebuasi and Jerry Nnamani leaving the pitch with injuries.

It was The Tanners who started the second half the better and Travis Gregory forced Kleton Perntreoy into a wonder save. The Leatherhead winger drove towards the edge of the box and curled a shot that look destined to find the top corner only for the outstretched glove of Perntreoy.

Leatherhead should have taken the lead when Jack Skinner missed a glorious opportunity to slot home. Following some silky work by Dsane, a low cross found it’s way to Skinner who only had to beat the keeper but shot agonsingly wide.

The Tanners were made to pay for that miss as Hamilton-Downes converted from close range following a deep cross to the back post.

Despite a frenzied end to the game, Leatherhead failed to carve out any clear cut opportunities and were left thinking what may have been.

Following the match, Leatherhead Assistant Manager, Martin McCarthy said; “Despite the loss, I was really pleased with us – I thought it was one of our best performances of the season.

“If you take into consideration the weather and that we lost two key players early in the half, I was really pleased with our intent and our desire was far better than it has been in weeks. We haven’t got any points today but if we play like that every week then I’ll be happy with the squad.”

Speaking about our performances this season and lack of points in the league, he said; ”It’s a hard one to say and you aren’t given anything in this league, you have to earn it. I think we’ve played well in certain games and we haven’t got the results that we deserved so far – I think a draw would’ve been a fair result today as we had some great chances.”