Vanarama National League North
The Citadel
Saturday 21st December 2019

There was an overriding feeling of injustice as Leamington went down to a narrow but undeserved defeat at Farsley Celtic, the hosts coming from behind to claim the points after Josh March’s 23rd goal of the season handed Brakes the early advantage.

Paul Holleran was able to name an unchanged starting eleven from Tuesday’s stunning victory at Telford, with Joe Clarke returning to the squad on the substitutes bench having recovered from a sickness bug.

Brakes looked the more purposeful of the two sides in the opening exchanges with Junior English in particular getting plenty of space to maraude into down the right, and he took full advantage in the tenth minute when swinging in a cross to the far post that still needed plenty of work, but the red hot March climbed effortlessly above his marker to thump a header past Elliott Wynne into the net.

English then almost turned from hero to villain as he left a ball up to the left touchline thinking it was rolling out of play, only for Dave Syers to nip in and drive it across the face of goal. Fortunately for Leamington Nathan Cartman was not close enough to be able to capitalise.

The hosts were handed a contentious route back into the game on seventeen minutes when Jack Lane was penalised for a challenge inside the penalty area when there looked to be very little contact on the Farsley player. Will Hayhurst stepped up to send Jake Weaver the wrong way from the spot.

Lane headed wide from a free kick as the two sides continued to largely cancel each other out, with Brakes still looking dangerous in attack. Edwards won the ball well on the edge of the box and it ran loose for Gittings to strike high and wide. March then did superbly to set up Kaiman Anderson when he rolled Farsley skipper Danny Ellis on the right before clipping a perfect cross into the centre for his team mate to meet with a first time volley that flew over the bar.

For the home sides’ part they were also working themselves into good attacking positions but their final ball was letting them down, with numerous crosses going harmlessly out of play. They came close when Lane gave away a free kick just outside the box which deflected off Steph Morley for a corner, which was whipped into the six yard box with pace and only just cleared away.

The home side definitely ended the half on top however, and Leamington were grateful to Weaver for pulling off a fine reaction save as Luke Parkin smashed in a first time drive inside the box, then going down under a challenge as he battled for the loose ball.

Play switched quickly to the other end and March appeared to go down as he sprinted into the box but to the fury of the Leamington bench nothing was given.

Half chances were exchanged in the early stages of the second half with Jordan Richards curling a shot into the arms of Weaver following a spell of Farsley pressure, while some great work by March earned a corner for Leamington which was cleared as far as Anderson some 25 yards out. His fierce first time drive was certainly on target but struck a body in the box before hacked clear.

The home side took the lead on 62 minutes with a thunderbolt from Parkin which flew into the far corner past the startled Weaver. Holleran immediately threw on Connor Taylor, who got straight into the action. There was a loud shout for a penalty as both Taylor and March appeared to go to ground inside the box, and a shot was driven across goal and just past the far post.

Both sides then saw offside goals chalked off before substitutes were introduced. Cartman drew a good block from Weaver as he won a race with two Brakes defenders to get a shot in. Leamington then had the ball in the net once more through substitute Dexter Walters but Referee Paul Brown had stopped play for an apparent foul on goalkeeper Wynne.

The game inevitably became scrappy in the closing stages, and Celtic substitute Tyler Walton almost grabbed a third on the break, Weaver doing well to block his shot at close range.

Walters looked menacing as he cut inside from the left but screwed his shot high and wide, while a corner was eventually held on the goal line by Wynne.

An off balance March sent a first time effort wide in added time, but it was not enough as Brakes slipped to an undeserved defeat.

Managers’ Reaction

‘We’re obviously bitterly disappointed with the result. I think we’ve done enough and had enough of the game to get at least a point out of it. Both sets of players deserve a lot of credit because to have to perform on a pitch like that at this level of football should not be happening.

‘Sometimes when you lose games you can be architects of your own downfall but we’ve come out on the wrong side of three or four crucial decisions today. We’ve had a penalty where the player should have been booked for diving; you’ve got the goalkeeper dropping the ball and we’ve put it in the net and somehow it’s a foul, you’ve got Josh March’s penalty - I could go on and on.

‘I have a lot of feedback with Referees, I like to have a chat, and one thing that a lot of young referees say is that they don’t get enough games at this level. We’ve got good young Referees sitting at home, and we have to watch this guy on a Saturday afternoon. Fair play to Farsley though, they’ve done a job on us. You know you’ve got to come here and deal with set plays and what they’re good at, and with the second goal we haven’t done that, we haven’t dealt with the second ball. It’s just disappointing for our players to put so much in on a difficult pitch, and come away with nothing. They deserved something out of the game, but that’s football, fair play to Adam (Lakeland) and Farsley, he’s a good chap and they’re a good club.

‘It’s just bizarre really, you look at the two games against Farsley and we haven’t got a point from either of them. It’s one of those isn’t it, but we’re in the middle of a good run - the performance was better than the result so I’m not going to get too down about it. There’s been 7 or 8 good chances in the game and we’ve had about 5 or 6 of them, but that’s where we are - we’re looking forward to a really good Christmas now. We’ve got one or two knocks and we’ll need a few days to recover after playing on a pitch like that, so we’ll see where it takes us.’

Attendance: 378

Farsley Celtic: 1 Elliott Wynne, 2 Jordan Richards, 3 Matty Regan, 4 Jack Higgins, 5 Danny Ellis ©, 6 Chris Atkinson, 7 Ben Atkinson (16 Tyler Walton, 70), 8 Dave Syers (15 Adam Clayton, 87), 10 Nathan Cartman, 11 Will Hayhurst, 12 Luke Parkin (18 Akeel Francis, 74).

Subs not used: 13 Kyle Trenerry, 14 Tom Allen.

Leamington: Jake Weaver, Junior English, Stephan Morley, Callum Maycock (16 Jordan Murphy, 69), James Mace, Jack Lane, Kaiman Anderson (14 Connor Taylor, 62), Callum Gittings (15 Dexter Walters, 79), Josh March, Jack Edwards, George Carline.

Subs not used: 12 Kieran Dunbar, 17 Joe Clarke,

Referee: Mr Paul Brown

Assistant Referees: Mr Peter Henger & Mr Luke Lazenby

Brakes Man of the Match: Josh March.