Ramsgate 0 Leatherhead 2

Leatherhead moved menacingly up to sixth spot in Ryman Division One South on Tuesday evening as another brace from Tommy Hutchings made it eight games unbeaten and gave them a vital three points at a windswept Southwood Stadium.

Manager Mick Sullivan made one change from the side which had put six goals past Dulwich Hamlet on Saturday, bringing back Luke Pigden for the unavailable Rob Hill, and strengthened the bench with new signing Gabriel Odunaike, a striker captured from Maidstone United in the past week.

Tanners started slowly, perhaps not surprisingly given the two-hour coach journey from Fetcham Grove which had seen them arrive just 30 minutes before kick-off, and the home side could have been two up in the first 10 minutes.

First, top scorer Warren Schulz side-footed wide from just six yards, and then a diving save from Tanner’s keeper Colin Harris denied home midfielder Rhys Lawson.

However, it wasn’t long before the men in green began to find their now familiar quick-paced attacking stride and, when Elliot Thompson was fouled 20 yards from goal, it was simply a question of which one of Leatherhead’s free-kick specialists would step up.

On this occasion, it was 20-goal hitman Hutchings and he produced a sublime curling shot that dipped over the wall and into the left hand corner of Sam Mott’s goal.

Tanners then threatened to run riot, as Adam Goodwell was denied a first goal for the club as Mott seemingly retrieved his toe-poked effort from beyond the line.

Minutes later, Chris Boulter ghosted in behind the defence but was somehow thwarted by Mott, who threw himself instinctively at the Leatherhead captain’s point-blank header.

Midway through the half, the Greens had a strong penalty appeal turned down after the referee decided that Greg Andrews’s run had been impeded right on the edge of the area, but Andrews stepped up and fired the free-kick well wide.

Despite playing into a fierce gusting wind, the Tanners kept pushing the home side back and Boulter went agonisingly close with another header that bounced off the top of the bar.

After the interval, and now with the conditions against them, the home team struggled to create any real chances as the Tanner’s defence held firm.

The inevitable happened on 67 minutes as Leatherhead broke quickly, aided by Thompson’s strong tackle on the halfway line, and, when he fed the marauding Hutchings, he was clear in an instant and neatly shot past Mott to give Tanners breathing space.

With 20 minutes left, Hutchings, playing despite feeling unwell before the game, was replaced by debutant Odunaike and, in the short time he was on, his pacy front running style looked like he could prove a more than useful addition as the season reaches its climax.

There was no way back for Ramsgate and, after one further substitution, with Tommy Williams replacing Jon Coke, Leatherhead saw out the final phase to record a fourth successive victory in their unrelenting assault on the play off places.

Leatherhead: Harris, Coke (Williams), Boulter, Dean, Goodwell, Thompson, Pigden, Simmons, Terry, Andrews, Hutchings (Odunaike)