Manarama National League North
The Deva Stadium
Saturday 28th September 2019

Back to the bread and butter of the National League North, Brakes turned in a performance that was a tremendous follow on from Tuesday evening’s energy sapping extra time FA Cup victory at Chasetown as they came within minutes of a famous victory over promotion chasing Chester.

In an absorbing afternoon’s entertainment Brakes edged themselves ahead twice only for the hosts to come back twice and take the lead themselves. There was plenty to cheer both sets of supporters in what was a great advert for the league.

Boosted by the return of Reece Flanagan and the on loan George Carline, Paul Holleran was able to make four changes to his starting eleven from Tuesday, bringing in Junior English and Kaiman Anderson while Connor Taylor made his first start of the season and Carline was named in midfield. Callum Gittings, who had suitably recovered after being on the wrong end of a horror challenge against Chasetown last Saturday, was among the substitutes.

There was precious little to whet the appetite in the opening fifteen minutes other than a couple of half chances at either end, but Leamington temporarily silenced the Deva Stadium crowd on the quarter hour as English’s long throw was headed on by Jack Edwards for Josh March to stab home his eleventh goal of the season from close range.

The lead was short lived however, James Mace putting a dangerous looking cross behind for a right wing corner which Joel Taylor delivered perfectly into the six yard box, James Jones giving Jake Weaver no chance at all with a powerful header to give Chester parity less than three minutes later.

Mace had the ball in the net but the flag was already raised, while the pacy Akwasi Asante cut in from the left to arrow a low drive towards goal but straight at Weaver.

Leamington were handed the chance to go back in front on twenty nine minutes when March was fouled inside the box. The confident front man stepped up to the spot once more but was left frustrated as his kick struck the outside of the post to the delight of the home fans in the Harry McNally terrace.

Asante forced another save from Weaver before Taylor’s afternoon came to a premature end as he was forced off injured, a real shame for the luckless midfielder after he had impressed coming off the bench on Tuesday.

Chester almost broke to devastating effect when a blocked pass was sent back into the Leamington half for Bradley Jackson to run on to, but he could only drive his shot across goal and wide.

Jack Lane had clearly developed a taste for goals after his late late winner on Tuesday evening, and drove a low effort towards goal that was not too far past the post following a corner on the right.

There was a worry moments before half time when Weaver went down after punching a corner clear, but after treatment he looked ok to continue and Leamington saw out the remaining seconds of a promising first half.

The second half got off to the worst possible start as Chester took the lead with little over ten seconds played. George Glendon drove in a powerful shot from the edge of the box that Weaver looked to have covered but the ball spun underneath his body and up into the net.

Brakes are nothing if not resilient however, and had squared things up once more within five minutes. Anderson was fouled in front of the dugouts and Joe Clarke delivered the free kick into the Chester penalty area, Jack Edwards connecting with a marvellous looping header that deceived everyone and dropped into the net.

Chester continued to attack at speed and Anthony Dudley ran at goal before driving low towards Weaver, who held the shot well.

Clarke inadvertently blocked a clearance from a team mate inside his own penalty area, allowing Matty Hughes a strike at goal which he dragged wide, while Edwards drove low into the arms of Russ Griffiths at the other end. Matty Waters then cut in from the right and drove a shot wide of goal as the game continued to ebb and flow.

Good work from Carline down the right saw him deliver an inviting ball into the box which eventually saw March’s shot blocked.

Leamington did not pass up their next opportunity however, Anderson outmuscling a defender in the penalty area as the Chester defence made a mess of Weaver’s long punt upfield to poke the ball past Griffiths to the delight of the travelling supporters.

The hosts inevitably pushed hard for a leveller, and got one on 89 minutes, Waters thundering a perfect free kick in off the underside of the bar to level a topsy turvy game for the second time.

In added time it was Leamington who had their hosts on the ropes, Simon Grand almost knocked off his feet by a rocket of a strike from Edwards, while March and Clarke saw further shots blocked, but despite the late leveller this was a really encouraging display from Leamington, who will look to back it up when they entertain Hereford on Tuesday evening.

Attendance: 1,853

Chester: Russ Griffiths, Matty Waters, Joel Taylor, Scott Burton ©, James Jones, Simon Grand, Bradley Jackson, George Glendon, Akwasi Asante, Matty Hughes (15 George Waring, 67), Anthony Dudley (17 Danny Elliott, 82).

Subs not used: 12 Gary Roberts, Iwan Murray, 16 Craig Mahon,.

Leamington: Jake Weaver, Junior English, Jack Lane (15 Cieron Keane, 67), Joe Clarke, Jamie Hood ©, James Mace, Connor Taylor (14 Kieran Dunbar, 34), George Carline, Josh March, Jack Edwards, Kaiman Anderson

Subs not used: 12 Ravi Shamsi, 16 Reece Flanagan, 17 Callum Gittings.

Referee: Mr Matt Corlett

Assistant Referees: Mr Neil Evans & Mr Zharir Mustafa

Brakes Man of the Match: Jack Edwards.

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Paul Holleran’s Reaction

‘From a performance level, because let’s be honest, the last two league performances against Altrincham and Farsley haven’t been where they’ve needed to be - We’ve had good spells but we’ve been really sloppy. We found a way of getting through the cup tie but again, the performance wasn’t where it needed to be, but then you look at today……. You’re going to be disappointed with conceding on 46 and 89 minutes, but to come to Chester and probably be the better side for long periods, and create more chances against a really good side - they’ve really got them going here - I think it’s probably, since being back at this level, one of our best away performances, and if you can just take those couple of errors out, the goals, but you have to give them credit as well because they put us under a lot pressure - this is a good side we’re talking about, but I just think that the level of performances from the players, we looked a threat all afternoon. There were some great individual performances.’