With the National League celebrating 40 years this weekend since the very first fixtures were played in what was then called the Alliance Premier League, we have dug into our ever expanding archive to find a brief match report from our maiden fixture in the league - at Bangor City on August 18th, 1979. Over the coming months and years we hope to be able to reintroduce the Pride in our Past section of the website in much more depth, so that Brakes fans old and new can dip into the intriguing history of the club.

Bangor City 3 AP Leamington 2

AP Leamington kicked off their Alliance League career in fine style at Bangor when they took an early lead, but the home side hit back in a ding dong first half to snatch 3-2 advantage at the interval.

It was a move down the left by Gorman and Briscoe that led to Leamington's first goal. Briscoe crossed, Gardner got a touch to it and Bangor's Walker ran the ball into his own net.

Two minutes later Murphy equalised for the home team when he shot home from 25 yards following a free kick. The score became 2-1 for Bangor on 25 minutes when Owen shot low into the net from 10 yards.

Leamington bounced back and Gardner shot them level on 31 minutes from a difficult angle after beating centre half Walker.

Next it was Bangor's turn and when Barnet sent a through ball down the middle Hughes gave chase to shoot past keeper Dulleston.

Half time: Bangor 3 Leamington 2.

Bangor City: Charlton, Atherton, Murphy, G Jones, Walker, C Jones, Barnet, Smith, Owen, Hughes, Barnes. Sub: Olney.

AP Leamington: Alan Dulleston, Dennis Taylor, Chris Dight, Alan Jones, Tom Kilkelly, Roy Morton, Malcolm Rainbow, Tommy Gorman, Bobby Vincent, Duncan Gardner, Steve Briscoe. Sub: Roger Bain.

Referee: Derek Webb (Manchester)