Leatherhead bounced back with a solid win against mid-table rivals Folkestone following their 6-0 thumping against Worthing in the week.

The Tanners were without Steve Goddard (still recovering from a badly bruised ankle) and Kev Terry (back injury).

Iain Hendry returned to the centre of defence with Tommy Moorhouse reverting to his, more usual, midfield slot.

In a very ordinary first half, the Tanners showed just enough to demonstrate their superiority.

With the majority of the opening exchanges taking place in the Folkestone half of the pitch, there were few chances until the first period had met mid-way point.

A Hutchings corner was punched to the edge of the area where Tony Cuff sent his volley high over the bar.

Bob Langford was forced into his first substitution when Moorhouse succumbed to a groin strain and was replaced by striker Simon Mitchell. The ex-Banstead striker is something of an enigma at the moment.

He has the capability to cause real problems for opposing defences but often lacks the composure and control to become a regular scorer. On this occasion, he came up trumps.

A through ball from the hugely impressive Hutchings found him in space inside the area after some clever running completely unhinged the Invicta offside trap.

Instead of taking the ball on himself, he fed it into the path of the late arriving Hutchings who marked an impressive first half with a crisp shot that found the net off the far post.

The home side could and should have drawn level 6 minutes later. Dev Williams was late and from behind with his challenge and the Folkestone forward went down in the area.

This time it was Chris Lewington in the Tanners’ goal who earned his money with a fine parry that denied the home attacker.

With Williams off the pitch following his challenge and with the Tanners reduced to 10 men, Folkestone exerted some pressure and were rewarded with the equaliser.

The ball was not cleared from the Leatherhead box and Michael Everitt stabbed the ball home from close in. Williams played no further part in the match and was replaced by Ben Shannon.

The second half was much better. Leatherhead, prompted by a highly competitive display from Stewart Holmes took the game to Folkestone and rarely looked troubled.

When Simon Mitchell was pulled down, most of the travelling support – and the team – felt sure of the penalty but the referee thought otherwise and awarded a free kick on the edge of the area. Hutchings strike was just wide.

Mitchell was causing his markers all sorts of problems with his running and awkward shielding of the ball but just lacked that composure to seal the game for the Mole Valley side.

In the past, Leatherhead have been undone by last minute goals but this time the boot was on the other foot.

A Shannon long throw into the near post rebounded to Hutchings whose shot found the net yet again – this time from a very tight angle.

It was well deserved and gave the home side little time to respond.

Folkestone had shown little threat to the Tanners.

The closest they came to making any inroads was when Frankie Chappell headed toward goal at the near post only to see Lewington claw the ball away with a superb reflex save.

After the trauma of the previous week, the Tanners came back with a solid and encouraging performance. They now need to ensure that they can build on this current vein of form, put the Worthing aberration behind them and continue with the type of display that the quality of the squad indicates they can achieve.