Leatherhead maintained their aspirations for automatic promotion with a convincing 4-0 win against Ramsgate on Wednesday night.

However, the night was marred by a clash of heads early in the first half which left Tanners stand-in captain Jamie Coyle needing to go straight to hospital.

Leatherhead dominated possession in a very one-sided opening period against an ineffective Rams defence, yet only managed a single goal from midfielder Kev Terry just before the break.

Tanners missed out on a hatful of changes in front of goal, either shooting wide of the target or directing a string of unchallenged shots and headers at Ramsgate keeper Daren Hawkes, who was kept busy throughout the match.

Terry took his goal well, latching onto a misdirected Rams pass on the half-way line, before breaking loose and cooly sending the ball beyond the reach of Hawkes into the corner of the net.

Ian Draycott doubled the home side's lead after 74 minutes, jinking past two defenders before beating Hawkes with an excellent shot from the edge of the area.

Deren Ibrahim had little to do all evening but the Leatherhead keeper made a fine low save to deny Ramsgate's Warren Schulz on 77 minutes, before Mohamed Eisa broke clear a couple of minutes later to grab Leatherhead's third.

If Ramsgate thought their evening could not get much worse they were sadly mistaken, as in the dying minutes Rams' captain James Sherman sliced an attempted clearance from six yards into the roof of the net for an unfortunate and embarrassing own goal.

Tanners keep up the pressure on League leaders Peacehaven & Telscombe as they prepare to visit Merstham on Saturday.

Leatherhead: Deren Ibrahim, Ryan Mahal (Mohamed Eisa 45), Daniel Johnson, Tom Parkinson, Jamie Coyle (Ryan Cooper 19), Jerry Nnamani, Theo Fairweather-Johnson, Paul Semakula, Tom Bradbrook (Connor Heffernan 62), Ian Draycott, Kev Terry.

Unused subs: Mikey Dalton, Mark Worsfold.