Stow deliver a Christmas Eve-eve triumph, whilst late Tanners deny the Moles

It’s was the night before the night before Christmas, and we had some fine football to distract you from the thought of queuing up in Tesco on Christmas Eve (other supermarkets, and other queues, are available).

In Pitching In Isthmian North we had a London derby, as Walthamstow took on Haringey Borough. Stow had been in good form, as highlighted by their four-nil thumping of Grays Athletic on Saturday, and were looking to climb up to eighth and pick up a fifth win in six- and they did just that, a goal in each half seeing off the visitors challenge. 

The opener arrived on sixteen minutes, Rasheed Salau with it- his first of the season- although Borough were soon given a chance to level from the spot, but home keeper Finn Rushton had other ideas. Just before the hour Stow skipper Ali Njie knocked the (sage and onion) stuffing out of the visitors by adding a second, heading home after good work from Tayo Oyebola, and that was that. Borough hit the bar late on, and their irrepressible support continued to give their all, but they ended the night with naught to show for their efforts. Borough remain two points from safety, and have played two or even three matches more than the sides they are chasing. 

Binfield were the hosts for Leatherhead in our Pitching In Isthmian South Central clash. The Moles were on a run of one win from six, but they must have thought they’d taken three points from this clash, only to be denied eight minutes into added time. 

Leatherhead went ahead after just eleven minutes, Ruben Bartlett-Antwi with his twelfth goal of the season (nine of them for Basildon United), but the Moles levelled just before half time through Rahzir Smith-Jones, and five minutes into the second half the same player got another to put the hosts ahead. That seemed to be that, time slipping away, and we’d played eight minutes additional time when substitute Lukas Franzen-Jones kept his cool to score his sixth Tanners goal and earn his side a point. Binfield enter the Christmas period in sixteenth, Leatherhead in twelfth. 

In the last six meetings between the sides nobody has scored more than two goals- and indeed at least one side has scored two goals on every occasion. This is the second two-two draw.