Whyteleafe play-off push back on track

The goals also reignited Leafe’s challenge for a Ryman Division One South play-off spot with nine games to go.

Leafe came into this game having secured just one point from their two most recent league matches, and were forced to line up without star striker Roscoe DSane, who was starting a three-match suspension picked up in the draw at Hastings.

Leafe fans were also greeted on arriving pitch-side with the sight of central defender Dylan Merchant hobbling round on crutches, and his injury would appear to rule him out of competition for several weeks to come.

But manager John Fowler once again shuffled the pack in defence, with Dean Hamlin starting the game in the centre of the back line, and that laid the bedrock for a gritty and characterful performance from his side.

In truth, however, a clear-cut home win had looked unlikely after half an hour of the game, with the visitors by that stage a goal in front, persistently threatening a second, and seemingly in control of the match.

As early as the sixth minute, Leafe skipper Jason Thompson had cleared a ball off the line as Three Bridges took the game to their hosts.

They continued to dominate possession in the first 15 minutes as Leafe struggled to get a foothold.

On 16 minutes, Leafe keeper Sheikh Ceesay took a chance with a clearance from his own box and set up an opportunity for Three Bridges in a dangerous position, but his blushes were spared as a goalwards shot hit one of the visiting strikers and went harmlessly away.

The pressure was continuing to build, however, and on 22 minutes, Three Bridges made their breakthrough as Tommy Smith was adjudged to have handled in the area and the referee pointed to the spot.

Ben Godfrey – who had broken Leafe hearts with a stoppage time equaliser in the reverse fixture earlier in the season – coolly slotted to Ceesay’s right as the keeper went the other way, to give Three Bridges a deserved lead.

Whyteleafe struggled to get to grips with Three Bridges fluent passing game, and on 31 minutes it could so easily have been 2-0.

The impressive Sam Macvicar released Hakeem Adelaken on the left, and while his left-foot shot came right out of the laces, it was close enough to Ceesay that the Leafe keeper could parry it away. Macvicar was first to the rebound, but fired his follow-up show into the ground and over the bar. Had Adelaken’s shot been two yards either side of Ceesay, it would have been hard to keep out.

Three Bridges kept up the pressure and on 38 minutes, a cross from Macvicar set up another chance for Godfrey to double the lead, but his shot was blocked.

It looked a case of when rather than if the second goal would come, but then, out of the blue, the game turned on two moments of individual brilliance from Sam Clayton in the space of five minutes just before the interval.

On 39 minutes, Clayton received the ball on the right about 25 yards from goal. He drove forward, cut inside the Three Bridges left-back and curled a left-foot shot from the edge of the box past the outstretched glove of Bridges’ keeper Kieron Thorp and into the far corner of the net.

That would have been enough to send the Leafe fans into the half-time refreshments feeling they had got out of jail somewhat, but even better was to come on 44 minutes.

Again on the right-hand side but from slightly further out, Clayton lashed a drive that simply flew into the keeper’s same right-hand corner, to give Leafe a 2-1 lead that they did not really deserve on the balance of the first 45 minutes.

Three Bridges tried valiantly to level the game in the minutes left before the interval, but despite again building up a spell of pressure, they found the Leafe defence standing firm.

The second half started with an early shout for a Leafe penalty as a Three Bridges defender went in hard on Jason Henry, but the referee adjudged that he had won the ball fairly.

Leafe were at least on the front foot from the outset in the second half, and over the next 45 minutes – in stark contrast to the first half – looked the better side, and created the better chances.

On 58 minutes, Bentley Graham pounced on a mistake in the Three Bridges defence and opened up a great chance to shoot on goal, but his attempt was blocked and the Leafe faithful started to wonder whether that was the chance to put daylight between themselves and the visitors.

Greg Andrews came on in place of Sol Patterson-Bohner, and just three minutes after his introduction was found at the back post by a Jason Thompson free kick, but his volley went a couple of feet wide, increasing the sense of doom behind the goal!

On 68 minutes, having absorbed a brief spell of Bridges pressure, Leafe broke swiftly from the back and Jason Henry was released in space on the right, but while his pinpoint cross found Andrews in a dangerous position, the header went over the bar.

minute later, a Jensen Grant header lacked the power to seriously trouble Thorp, and three minutes later Clayton pulled the trigger from the edge of the box, but failed to generate the power of his first-half strikes.

Leafe were well on top by this stage and on 77 minutes, after more good work on the right by Henry, Andrews had another fine chance to make it three, but drew a save from Thorp.

A minute later, a Bridges defender appeared to handle in the box and Henry went down under a challenge seconds later, but both penalty appeals were waved away.

And on 83 minutes, as the pressure built and built, Ryan Fowler ballooned an excellent chance over the bar. Surely there wouldn’t be yet another late sting in the tail, to dent Leafe’s playoff hopes?

There was a late goal, but it came for the home side, courtesy of the ever-industrious and impressive Jason Henry.

Freed yet again to attack the left side of the Three Bridges defence, he cut into the middle of the pitch and fired a low drive past Thorp and just inside the post, to send the Leafe fans behind the goal delirious.

Having thrown away a two-goal lead in stoppage time at Three Bridges, this was no time for Leafe to drop their guard, but all the subsequent chances were Leafe’s, with a Henry volley going just wide in the last minute of normal time and a Thompson free kick in stoppage time comfortably dealt with by Thorp.

It was a vital win for Leafe, with fellow playoff chasers Worthing and Herne Bay both also winning. Leafe undoubtedly have a tough run-in – Worthing and Herne Bay will be their last two opponents of the season, and the next two matches are the challenging trips to second-placed Faversham and unbeaten champions elect Burgess Hill.

However, this second-half performance against a capable Three Bridges side will give them a real confidence boost as the really serious business now looms.