Midland Floodlit League Eastern Division
Phillips 66 Community Stadium
Wednesday 29th November 2017
Another old five as young guns freeze out The Griff
On a freezing cold night with a bitterly cold northerly wind providing conditions non conducive for football the young Brakes continued their rich vein of form to remain undefeated and top of the table at the halfway point of the season.The game was earlier in doubt as the early morning frost had begun to set into the shaded areas of the pitch, but early afternoon the temperature lifted as cloud cover rolled in allowing the game to go ahead.
Leamington kicked off in their gold and black towards the Harbury Lane End with Griff in their all blue strip.
As early as the third minute Brakes Patryck Swiercz burst through with tremendous pace, latching onto a ball which looked to be going out of play at the goal line and put in a cross which incredibly was scrambled away in a goal mouth melee off the line.
In the opening half an hour the game developed into a niggly affair as the two teams jockeyed for control in the cold conditions and as a result few chances were created. On 33 minutes Griff had their first shot on goal drawing a confident save from the recalled Patrick Kollie in the Brakes goal from a shot by Reece Williams.
On 37 minutes the persistant energy of Swiercz paid off as he latched onto a super through ball from Peepal to round his marker and fire an unstoppable shot rising into the left hand corner - 1-0 to Brakes.
Minutes later the on fire Swiercz was at it again with a mazy run from the half was line following a neat pass from Winiarski, only to be scythed down on the edge of the box. From the resulting free kick Shay Nicholson stepped up to beat the wall on 43 minutes, placing the free kick in the left hand side of the net - 2-0 Brakes.
Incredibly straight from the restart Brakes were awarded a free kick just 10 yards inside the Griff half. Up stepped the Leamington long distance specialist free kick taker Will Evans. Seeing the Nuneaton keeper off his line the fullback smashed one of the most remarkable free kicks ever seen at the Phillips 66 Community Stadium over the keeper from 40 yards to make it 3-0 to Brakes on the stroke of halftime.
The second half began with a siege on the Griff goal with Winiarki and Zefi going close after a superb nutmeg wide on the left drew a good covering save from Leaney in the Griff goal.
Swiercz provided a good through ball for Winiarski to shoot just wide of the post as the pressure built up on the Griff goal.The Winiarski / Swiercz combination again forced a fine save out of Leaney as Swiercz blasted in a shot only for Winiarski to put the rebound wide. The pressure was relieved for Griff momentarily as a good passing move set up Jai Rowe who went close from a good through ball from skipper Lee Hewitt. Minutes later Kollie was called upon to make a good save from a rasping shot from just outside the box in the 76th minute as Griff began to gain momentum going forward. But a minute later Swiercz picked up a neat through ball to stroll past two defenders and bury a shot from 10 yards to make it 4-0.
The Brakes defence had stood firm all night with Luke Dodd outstanding at the back. A brief cameo from Ross Quatermaine saw some good runs and two good efforts from shots just outside the box flew just over the bar, but inevitably Jack Winiarski rounded off the scoring, poaching one from 6 yards to finish 5-0 to Leamington who go into next weeks top of the table clash at the Phillips 66 Community Stadium on a high following a superb performance from man of the match Patryck Swiercz. But take nothing away, this was a very good all round team performance from the young Brakes.
Keith Hancock