Leatherhead fell to another home defeat after conceding a last minute winner which leaves them 5 points off the play offs while, local rivals, Merstham cemented third place in the table.

Despite defending well for 90 minutes, The Tanners faithful were left frustrated as Merstham’s Roman Michael-Percil popped up in the 93rdminute to secure all three points for the The Moatsiders.

The Tanners slightly edged the first half with few clear-cut chances being created by either team. The first real shot of any venom came from the home side as Travis Gregory latched onto Shaun Okojie’s pass inside the box before striking straight at Amadou Tangara.

With both teams probing for an opener, it was Merstham who almost went in with a lead at half time. Kershaney Samuels worked space on the edge of the box and saw his shot leave Zaki Oualah stranded in the Tanner’s goal but roll against the foot of the post.

The Moatsiders started the second half on the front foot and should have been ahead when Walter Figueira missed an open goal from 6 yards out. Slick play through the midfield saw Michael-Percil break free on the wing and square to Figueira who miscued his shot wide of the post when left with an empty net.

Combination play between Figueira and Michael-Percil was causing the Tanners defence problems with the latter shooting wide when well placed on the edge of the box shortly before Figueira forced a smart save from Oualah.

Just when it seemed that Leatherhead had weathered the storm, a long ball over the top wasn’t dealt with properly and Michael-Percil pounced to control and slot the ball into the bottom corner with virtually the last kick of the game.

Leatherhead’s manager Nikki Bull praised the efforts of his team saying, “I can’t ask for any more from the players than what they gave me today. Up until 10 seconds until the end, we stopped a very good side from scoring. I’m disappointed for the players today because they gave me everything.”

Bull went on to say; “The target for the rest of the season is to win as many games as we can until the end and I promised the fans that this season will not fizzle out. I said that this year was about trying to build for the future and I feel we are ahead of schedule. While we are in this position in the league, we are not going to make the numbers up and we are going to go for the play-offs.”

Next Saturday, The Tanners travel to bottom placed Burgess Hill looking to complete the double over the Sussex side.