Leatherhead striker Vas Karagiannis may have bagged his 16th league goal of the season on Saturday against the Ryman Premier Division leaders, but a 1-1 draw has seen their late assault on the play-offs derailed momentarily.

Tanners had gone eight games unbeaten – for which boss Richard Brady was named manager of the month – before defeat at Enfield Town two weekends ago, and last Saturday’s draw with Maidstone United.

However, despite being five points off the play-offs Karagiannis remains convinced they are in still in sight.

The Congolese 22-year-old said: “I am the only one in the team who believed, before we went on this run, we could get into the play-offs.

“I was saying to the guys that we have really good players in the team and if we continued to play good we can still be in with a shout at the end of the season.

“We don’t have new players in the team, the good run was not all about having new players – it was just a question of confidence and fitness, which has improved since the start of the season.

“We’ve had a blip, but we know we can come back again.”

Karagiannis’ own start to the season was stop-start, including a doomed spell at Hayes & Yeading in October.

However, he also points to another reason why he did not enjoy the best of starts.

“It is all about fitness. When I started at Leatherhead I had not had a pre-season,” he said.

“I had been injured for a long time, and when I got back to action in September at Welling, the coach there sent me to Leatherhead and so I never had that pre-season.

“The first half of the season was a little bit harder than the second, but my fitness has got better because the gaffer gave me the chance to play every game.”

Tanners go to second-placed Hendon this weekend.