Advent Calendar 2015: Day 23: Leatherhead 6-4 Leyton Pennant

The Guardian’s headline from this game reads “Pennant leathered in cup nightmare”, but the game could have gone differently had they not started so poorly.

In November 1998, Pennant crashed out of their second cup competition in four days with a midweek trip to Surrey. The previous Saturday, they had lost 3-0 at home to St Albans City in the third qualifying round of the FA Trophy.

The Guardian’s report reads:” Lunn, of Leatherhead, scored the opener for the lowly opposition [they finished 17th in the table, Pennant 13th], setting off an avalanche of goals in an astonishing 13-minute spell.

Before they knew it, the Lilywhites were three goals down, thanks to Webb’s strike and another from Lunn.

The tie looked over, but Scott Kennedy fired in a reply after Tony Dixon’s shot was blocked and Billy Read pulled back a second with his shot from the edge of the area.

Pennant sensed a comeback, but five minutes before the break, they paid the price for letting their powers concentration weaken.

Firstly, a corner was met unchallenged by defender Edwards to make it 4-2 and, on the stroke of half-time, it became five when Lunn completed his hat-trick to effectively end the contest.

In the 70th minute, Read gave his side a glimmer of hope with a cool finish, but another failure to defend a set-piece meant that Leatherhead added their sixth soon after.