Leatherhead fought back to grab a well deserved point at Leylands Park on Saturday ending a run of 13 consecutive games without a draw, but ultimately will be left rueing a series of missed chances either side of half time which should have seen them home and dry.

There was some worrying news on the injury as well, as Captain Iain Hendry suffered a heavy knock, and whilst happily it was later diagnosed as just severe bruising, the Tanner’s stalwart with over 400 games to his credit will be out for around 8 weeks, and with fellow Centre Back Dan Dean still recovering from a hamstring injury, manager Mick Sullivan may need to consider some cover.

On a hard pitch with a biting wind, conditions were certainly very different to the heavy pitches at Fetcham Grove which the Tanners have become accustomed to recently and they certainly took time to settle as for much of the first half they looked a pale shadow of the team of recent weeks.

After Greg Andrews had seen an early effort blocked for a corner, it was all Burgess Hill and Colin Harris was called upon to make two sharp saves, before Michael Corbett, on for Hendry, sliced a left wing cross against his own bar on the half hour mark.

Just when it looked inevitable the hosts would score, Tanners suddenly burst into life in a 10 minute spell just before the interval.

Firstly Marc Elston shot over from 8 yards after being set up by Tommy Hutchings, then Andrews stole in at the far post but saw his header hit the top of the bar; whilst Hutchings saw a headed effort somehow squeezed off the line at the far post, and right on half time should have scored but fired over from 6 yards following a corner.

After the break, Burgess Hill settled back into their familiar style of launching long balls towards their tall forward line, but Tanners were defending stoutly, and causing plenty of problems of their own on the break.

On 62 minutes Chris Boulter saw a shot from a corner scrambled off the line, and then shortly after another Leatherhead flag kick saw a home defender clear with his hand but the referee was unsighted and the offence went unpunished.

The Hillians raced up the other end and immediately took advantage of this let off when a corner of their own saw Centre Back Will Berry scramble home his 4th goal of the season from close range.

Tanners then threw men forward, and after Steve Harper had missed a good opportunity to seal it for the home side, the equaliser came in the 81st minute when Greg Andrews was on hand to fire into an empty net after Chris Winterton had pulled off a fine save from Hutching’s low drive.

On reflection a point away from home at a side placed 8th in the League will be a satisfying result for the Tanners, and another tough trip to Sussex follows on Tuesday when they visit 4th placed Worthing.

Leatherhead: Harris, Coke, Hendry (Corbett), Boulter, Goodwell, Elston (Pigden), Thompson, Simmons, Hill, Andrews, Hutchings