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Nigel Golley was missing in central defence with Gary Elliott put into the middle to partner Gary Arkwright. Phil Dawson made a rare appearance in central midfield and Scott Thornton moved in to partner him. Bobby George played out of position on the right of midfield and David McSherry made his first appearance of the season partnering Steve Milton up front.
Despite so many changes, the Leafe dominated the first half and well deserved their early lead when Gary Elliott was left unmarked at the back post after Gary Arkwright had flicked on a Gani Ahmet corner.
Leatherhead, for their part seemed happy to sit back and create a few chances on the break and on one occasion rattled the cross bar from a close range shot. Despite Leafe's domination of the first half Leatherhead managed to score on the stroke of half time with a backpost header from Ben Papa.
This goal was to be the turning point in the game as the Tanners came out in the second half with renewed confidence. They started to play the ball around, retain possession and dominate the game. Whyteleafe fell apart and were lucky not to concede any goals in the second half. Try as they did Leatherhead were unable to convert chances into goals in the second half and the final whistle soon came. One or two Leatherhead players were obviously unaware that the tie had to be completed on the night as they shook hands with the referee but they had another 30 minutes in front of them.
Extra time saw more of the same Leatherhead dominance but this time they converted chances into goals. Despite Matt Martin's best efforts he was unable to pull off a double save and a Michael Rootes was able to steer in simple chance after Matt did well with the first effort. Ancient Carshalton war-horse, Jimmy Bolton, hasn't lost his eye for goal and blasted in a splendid shot from the edge of the box . A fourth goal in the second half of extra time from Alex O'Brien finished of a good night's work for the home side and Leafe go hunting elsewhere for silverware.
The end of the match was marred by an appalling example of refereeing when stranded Leatherhead No 5 (Daniel Lavender?) petulantly kicked out Leafe substitute Steve Lunn. This happened right in front of referee Mr Kelly (Camberley) who had no alternative but to send the offender off. However, Mr Kelly decided to exercise discretion which he simply is not entitled to exercise. Presumably, as the game was so close to the end and Leatherhead had effectively won the match he did absolutely nothing. He didn't even give a foul but gave a drop-ball fifteen yards away from where the incident took place. Effectively Mr Kelly (in his capacity as an official FA referee) condoned a violent act for which a red card is required and not at question of discretion.
