Uxbridge took an important three points off bottom club Leatherhead on a rainy night at Honeycroft. The Reds went into the match with a record of only taking one point from their last eight matches and ironically the only club who had a worse one were the Tanners with one point from their last nine. Under those circumstances the game took on extra significance with both sides being aware that defeat would drop them that much further into trouble. Uxbridge manager George Talbot opted for a tactical switch by playing Chris Moore as a wing back on the left hand side and that gamble almost paid off twice in the opening ten minutes. Firstly Moore headed Nicky Ryder’s deep cross into the path of the incoming Dean Clark who was just unable to reach it and then Moore himself cut in from the left before driving a low shot at Stewart Vaughan in the Tanners goal. At the other end Tommy Williams sprung the offside trap but his shot was comfortably saved by Sean Dawson. Uxbridge remained the dominant force in the opening exchanges though and it was no real surprise when they took the lead in the thirteenth minute. Clark’s corner was headed on at the near post by Mark Gill directly into the path of an unmarked Stuart Bamford who headed in from six yards. A minute later Paul Mills’ shot was blocked and Lee Tunnell’s effort from the rebound was held by Vaughan before Stuart Bamford’s cross from the right was met by a bullet like header from Gill which Vaughan worked wonders to save low down to his right hand side. The second goal wasn’t long in arriving though and in the twenty-sixth minute it was almost the same Clark/Bamford combination involved. This time Clark’s cross was headed goal wards by Bamford but Tunnell stopped the ball in the six-yard box before spinning on the spot and blasting home. It should have been three five minutes later when Nicky Ryder beat Vaughan to Clark’s high ball but with an open goal at his mercy Ryder fashioned to shoot wide. Leatherhead’s only real threat of the half came in the thirty-fifth minute when Andy Sayer forced a good save from Dawson after a good run but Uxbridge remained on top with Clark curling a 25 yard effort narrowly wide just before the interval. Nine minutes into the second half the game was all over when another high ball into the Tanners box ricocheted into the path of Gill who stuck out a league to poke the ball in and in doing so made the Reds lead unassailable. To their credit Leatherhead never let their heads go down and that battling spirit may well give them hope for the rest of the season. Shortly after the goal Paul Harkness tested Dawson with a shot from a free kick and then in the seventy-second minute the Tanners had their best chance of the game when substitute Julian Old produced an intrusive pass which set up Jamie Beer but from six yards out he shot over. After that Uxbridge substitute Carl Levene was just wide with a glancing header from Clark’s cross and shortly before the end Ryder had a shot deflected into the side netting. All in all though it was a result that Uxbridge desperately wanted and needed to revive confidence and one which keeps the pressure on Leatherhead down at the bottom.

UXBRIDGE: Dawson, S.Bamford, Granville, Mills, Weedon, Walters (Greaves 78), Ryder, Gill, Tunnell (Levene 58), Moore, Clark.

Sub not used: Flanagan

LEATHERHEAD: Vaughan, Ottley (Jones 62), Roberts, Oliver, Crouch, Hendry, Beer, McKay, Sayer, Harkness, Williams (Old 62).

Sub not used: Roberts