Leatherhead failed to make their chances count as they were held to a draw against a solid Lewes side at Fetcham Grove on Saturday.

With results going their way, a combination of wayward finishing and bad luck meant The Tanners are still only one point off the Play-Off places.

It was The Rooks who took the lead in lively opening ten minutes when James Hammond reacted first to lose ball in the box. A hopeful ball into the Leatherhead box was not dealt with properly and Hammond pounced to steer the ball under Zaki Oulah.

The goal sparked Leatherhead into life and they were level on the fifteen-minute mark. A Travis Gregory corner caused havoc in the Lewes six-yard box with Lewis Carey only palming away a header away to Jerry Nnamani who forced the ball over the line.

Following the equalizer, The Tanners started to take control of the game and should have taken the lead when Ibrahim Oultade missed a one on one with the keeper. The striker who has bee in red-hot form lately cleverly broke the offside trap after being played in Skinner but saw a tame shot pushed wide by Carey.

As the half drew to a close, it was Lewes who almost made The Tanners pay for being so profligate in front of goal. Young defender, Misha Djmali made a heroic headed clearance off the line after Harry Reed’s shot had beaten Oulah and Omarr Lawson flashed a shot just wide.

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The second half started with Leatherhead on the front foot as wave after wave of attacks were thwarted by The Rooks defence.

Last week’s goal scorer, Dan Gallagher missed the clearest opportunity of the half as he miscued on the edge of the box after being found by cutback from John Ufuah.

As full-time drew ever closer, The Tanners missed further opportunities with Olutade shooting straight at the keep when well placed, Shaun Okojie heading wide from a corner and Travis Gregory dragging a volley wide from inside the Lewes box.

Following the match, Nikki Bull reflected on the match; “I’m bitterly disappointed that we didn’t get the three points today but if we balance it out and look at fixtures over the last five games; Folkstone at home, Bognor away, Enfield away, Tonbridge and Lewes at home – we would’ve taken 11 points from 15.”

Despite the setback today, Bull is still aiming at crashing the Play-Off party; “It doesn’t matter that we were second bottom in November, it doesn’t matter what the budget is, it doesn’t matter the age of our group, it doesn’t matter how players we had when me and Macca (Martin McCarthy) started the job in may, the fact of the matter is that we are one point off the Play-Offs with three games to go. It is my job now to get us there. I class myself as a winner and I’ll be disappointed if we don’t get in the Play-Offs."

Next week, Leatherhead travel to Brightlingsea Regent aiming to pick up the points to move them up in the table.