Injuries forced changes with Charlie Turner in goal, Smith-Walker, Bennett, Thompson and Wales at the back; Gouldbourne, Durling, Booth and McDonald in midfield and Dean Ager and Lewis Byrne-Hewitt up front. Kane Gilbert and newcomer Max Bradford were on a bench which also included Ribchester, Clowsley and Ken Feyi.

The first half began as it was destined to go on, entirely in the Leatherhead half. Early on a good through ball from Harry McDonald found Byrne-Hewitt but in an offside position.

After six minutes a through ball from Jake Thompson looked to be deflected on to Byrne-Hewitt who looked up and carefully curled the ball into the top corner of the goal. Amid the celebrations nobody noticed the linesman’s raised flag and to the relief of the Leatherhead fans, the goal was ruled out.

Regent’s frontmen kept up the pace and after 20 minutes a foul on Goldbourne gave Max Booth the chance to float in a free kick for Charlie Durling to head home. Once again, the linesman’s flag cut short the celebrations, seemingly for a push in the build-up.

The pressure continued as Leatherhead conceded more free kicks in dangerous areas until after 25 minutes a good combination on the left by Goldbourne and McDonald led to a floated cross which Lewis Byrne-Hewitt was able to tap in. To the great relief of the home fans, this time the linesman kept his flag down.

Shortly afterwards Regent were nearly further ahead from a corner as a Leatherhead defender flicked a header towards his own goal and forced and acrobatic save from the goalkeeper.

It was one-way traffic as Regent drove forward, penned Leatherhead into their own half and created multiple opportunities without being able to get the necessary final touch to extend their lead.

After one minute’s added time the first half of what had been an entirely dominant Regent display came to a close. It was possibly the best 45 minutes of football that Regent have played since being at this level of the football pyramid. All the action had been in the Leatherhead half, Charlie Turner had been untroubled for 45 minutes and it had been continual one-way traffic toward the Leatherhead goal.

The second half started with a Leatherhead substitution as Adam Green came on for Jedd Smith and, shortly afterwards, he created the visitor’s best chance of the match hitting the ball across the face of goal.

The second half never reached the heights of the first as Regent only managed two long range efforts by Max Booth and Lewis Byrne-Hewitt until the 80th minute when Harry McDonald was put clear but couldn’t keep the ball down. Then a route one ball from Turner put Max Booth clear which he was unable to convert.

Regent started trying to play out the game by putting the ball into the corner and there were anxious calls to find out how much added time would be played. Five minutes was shown on the board but in the event the referee blew the final whistle about three minutes later.

The Leatherhead supporters shook their heads and observed that they had not had a shot on target at any point in the game. In contrast the Regent fans wondered why they had twice had attempts disallowed and how the Leatherhead goal had managed to survive numerous other attempts.

Match verdict
Regent won this with a dominant first half display of attacking football. They played with an intensity and at a pace which has rarely, if ever, been matched since their promotion season in 2017.

By Paul Ketchley