Leatherhead's unbeaten run - and their hopes of success in the FA Carlsberg Trophy cam to an end against a strong Team Bath at the Grove last Saturday.

With Iain Hendry sidelined after a painful shin injury suffered at the midweek match against Dartford, Dave Harlow fielded his strongest line up against the the BGB Premier (Sothern League) opponents.

The match did not start well for the home side. The lively Jake Reid broke down the visitors, left flank and played a low cross into the near post.

Scott Canham was first to the ball and his low touch netted to score the first of his hat trick.

This was not the start that the home side needed and the Tanners lack some of their usual fluidity in the opening encounters.

Bath possessed to commanding central defenders in Adam Green and Matt Taylor and the tactic of long balls down the middle of the park was never going to succeed against defenders so dominant in the air.

With the FA Cup !st Round tie next weekend, this was an edgy start for Leatherhead.

They had plenty of possession but were unable to unlock a stubborn defence that kept the usually potent strike force of marc Charles-Smith and Dave Stevens at bay and restricted the Tanners to long range shots.

Despite being closely marked Charles-Smith proved his usually threatening self and was on the receiving end of some harsh treatment from some no-nonsense Bath tackling.

Leatherhead are a much stronger second-half team these days and this was underlined when a Lee Doherty header was acrobatically tipped over by Bath's Darren Chitty.

With Leatherhead pressing to pull back the one goal deficit, manager Dave Harlow brought on an additional striker in Julian Thompson and replaced the hard running Scott Bennetts with Dean Carpenter.

Although this did give the Tanners more attacking opportunities, Bath continued to press and created a good deal of pressure of their own, forcing a number of corners that they were unable to convert.

For the Tanners, it was very much the same pattern with Stevens and Charles-Smith being prompted by a midfield where Sargent worked tirelessly to create space and chances.

The deciding goals were fairly soft affairs. This season, Lynval Duncan has shown immense composure and pace at the back and this game was no different.

His one error was in letting a ball go past him which the lively Canham picked up. Committing himself to the block, Leatherhead keeper caught the Bath striker as he rounded him and a penalty was give, Gibson collected a yellow card for his efforts and Canham sent hime the wrong way with the spot kick.

It was not all Team Bath. Within a minute, the Tanners could have pulled a vital goal back.

A period of home team pressure saw Charles-Smith get on the end of an excellent paasing move that involved Jamie Beer and Steve Sargent only for the impressive Chitty to block with his legs.

As the ball worked itself back to Charles-Smith - this time on the wide right, his low cross found Julian Thompson stretching to shoot from inside of the area.

It should have been on target but the ball flew over the bar.

Scott Canham collected the final part of the hat trick after a defensive mix up where Gibson flew out of his goal to challenge for a through ball he was never going to make.

This left Canham in the clear and the Tanners keeper blotting his copybook in an otherwise impressive season.

With the clock running down, Gibson was called upon to make two fine saves - the second of which saw him collide with defender, Jamie Beer who needed treatment after the clash.

On the day, Bath had too much strength for a Leatherhead side who have played excellently this season.

With other important matches to come, they will rue this defeat but will certainly be fully geared up for their trip to Torquay at the weekend.

Tanners: Gibson, Beer, Gray, Duncan, Doherty, Holmes, Sargent, Bolger (Thompson), Charles-Smith, Bennetts (Carpenter), Stevens.