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Report: Whyteleafe 5-3 Lingfield
Whyteleafe progressed to the next round of the Surrey Cup in an 8 goal thriller in a match switched to Church Road due to the Lingfield pitch being unplayable.
Leafe were dominant in the early stages and 2 early strikes suggested it might be a comfortable win. Ryan O'Donoghue on his debut had already forced a save with a 30 yard effort before Ronald Sobowale took the ball into the box unmarked and placed it past Dan Narie into the net.
Ex Leafe man Stephen ~Hodge made a great saving tackle to deny Jordan Clarke before the prolific Sobowale struck again in the 18th minute, this time receiving a great through ball from Bentley Graham, and shooting in off the far post.
Leafe dominated the rest of the half and could easily have gone into the interval with a bigger lead. Lingfields only chance came in the 42nd minute when Sheikh Ceesay's attempted pass was intercepted by Jake Horn, but he recovered to save Horn's shot at goal.
The second half started well for Lingfield with Hodge pulling a goal back within 2 minutes of the restart. This seemed to lift them and they pushed men forward in search of an equaliser. This left them more vulnerable at the back and Sobowale took advantage of this in the 57th minute, beating 2 defenders before passing to the well placed Martin Sontan who shot home from close range.
Lingfield however were not giving up and 2 minutes later Scott Johnson headed home from a free kick on the right to reduce the deficit to one.
Richard Walton thought he had equalised in the 70th minute when he put the ball into the net but it was ruled out for offside.
Malachi Hyman restored the 2 goal league with a fine strike in the 72nd minute, Matt O'Donoghue's first touch of the ball as a sub was to find him with a long throw in.
Jamie McGeoghegan had the misfortune to head into his own net in the 77th minute attempting to clear a cross. Once again the lead cut to 1 and Lingfield again pressing for an equaliser.
Bentley Graham put the tie to bed in the 88th minute with Leafe's 5th goal. He cut into the box and his attempted cross from close range was blocked, but fell back to him and he made no mistake firing home from close range.
Whyteleafe Team: Ceesay, Grieson, Wedgeworth (O'Donoghue M 71), O'Donoghue R, McGeoghegan, Orome, Adebayo, Graham, Sobowale (Ishola 63), Sontan, Clarke (Hyman 57).
Subs Not Used: Dunne, Andrews.
