The Tanners' ambitions of a prolonged run in the Surrey Senior Cup ended on a chilly night at Kingfield against a full-time side who, despite showing poor form in the Blue Suare Conference Premier Division, had just too much firepower.

The match saw the welcome return of club captain, Iain Hendry, who returned to the centre of the defence following a lengthy lay-off. He replaced John Cartledge who retired injured in Saturday’s game against Kingstonian. New signing, Steve Goddard was cup-tied.

A strong Woking side started brightly testing leatherhead’s goalkeeper, Chris Lewington with a low shot that was comfortably held. This was followed up within 2 minutes with a Wilfried Domoraud shot that Lewington parried well.

Leatherhead battled well showing real industry with Tony Cuff working hard down the right flank and Jason Henry exploiting his pace – this time down the middle of the park. Lewington was earning his money as a well drilled Cards attack found space behind the visiting defence and tested him with a far post ball that he blocked well for a corner and then another fine save from the resulting dead ball.

Woking’s breakthrough came after 22 minutes when another ball to the far post was played back for Liam Marum to convert with ease. With their tails up, the home side extended the gap with a goal from Joel Ledgister after some weak defending allowed a Woking break to develop into a real goalscoring opportunity.

Leatherhead were not overrun. Stewart Holmes worked hard in the midfield and the new central defensive partnership of Hendry and Andy Wareing started to show some signs of understanding but the more senior side with their greater technical ability and the assurance and fitness that comes from playing together on a full time basis were never seriously troubled.

The third goal came in controversial fashion. Daniel Spence was some 2 yards offside when he received the ball in the Tanners half but, with the linesman well behind the run of play, he was allowed to continue and found Wilfried Domoraud who converted with ease.

Whether or not Woking took their foot off of the accelerator or the Tanners constant battling was proving effective was a moot point but the home side were unable to significantly extend their lead in the second half. Kev Terry, an early replacement for the injured Jean-Serge Musungu used his pace well but was unable to break free of a strong and disciplined Cards defence. Henry showed the same but was physically not strong enough to withstand the attention that the home defence were able to exert on him.

There were spells when Leatherhead pressure caused some concern in the home ranks – particularly when some good solid work from Henry resulted in corners from both the right and left in quick succession – but Leatherhead were unable to capitalise on them. A little later a Tommy Moorhouse ball found Henry (again) and his layoff to Tom Hutchings resulted in a shot that was blocked at the edge of the area.

The Tanners did get the ball into the home net from a shot from Tommy Moorhouse but the flag had long been raised for offside.

With the game won, Woking completed their scoring within the last ten minutes with a”route one” goal. The long ball from defence found Charlie Moone who lobbed the stranded and exposed Lewington .

This result went with form. The home side were just too much for a Tanners side who worked their socks off but could not find that spark to unlock a more experienced defence. It was not a poor performance and one that would measure up well against Ryman League opposition. The search is now on for league points.

Team Lewington, Palmer, Shannon, Wareing, Hendry, Holmes, Cuff, Moorhouse (Jones), Henry, Musungu (Terry), Hutchings (Elgar)