Vanarama National League North
The Community Stadium
Saturday 5th December 2020

The two form sides in the Vanarama National League North faced off at the Community Stadium as the bitter winter weather began to take hold on a crisp early December afternoon in the Warwickshire countryside

With visitors Gateshead on a six match unbeaten run and Brakes having notched up seven without defeat, this was surely the game of the day in the division, and it provided late late drama as substitute Junior English snatched a stoppage time equaliser to deny Gateshead what would have been a deserved victory. 

Paul Holleran stuck with the same eleven that started Tuesday’s draw against Brackley, while Mike Williamson named only six of the side that won 4-2 in the last meeting between the two up at the International Stadium in February.

The opening ten minutes were uneventful other than a fine save from Jake Weaver when Jack Hunter’s shot deflected off a Leamington boot to loop towards goal. The Brakes keeper did not have much time to readjust but he did so very well to push the ball behind for a corner.

The centre back pairing of Kyle Morrison and Jack Lane, so impressive in recent games, were put to work early in this contest, Morrison doing well to block another shot inside the box while Lane dived full length to head a right wing cross behind as the Heed put their hosts under heavy pressure.

Their early dominance was rewarded on 28 minutes as skipper Greg Olley found himself with a little too much time in front of goal just inside the box. His initial shot was well saved by Weaver but the ball ricocheted straight back to him and he slotted his second effort past the unfortunate stopper.

Jack Edwards saw a well struck half volley from Lane’s knock down blocked in a congested Gateshead penalty area, but the visitors continued to boss proceedings, Jordan Preston forcing another very good stop from Weaver as he drove powerfully towards the near post from the left.

The goalkeeper was keeping his team in the game now, and another fantastic save prevented Mike Williamson’s men from going in with a two goal cushion as he denied Ged Garner’s fierce drive from 20 yards.

Brakes certainly kicked off the second half with more intent. A free kick played into the Gateshead penalty area was pounced upon by Lance Smith who almost turned his marker to create the space for a crack at goal. The ball was blocked and cleared as far as Joe Clarke, who drove his first time shot high over the clubhouse roof.

The visiting defenders were furious as Sam Osborne was awarded a free kick on the right edge of the penalty area, but the same player drove the dead ball into the defensive wall when the angle was perhaps better for Stephan Morley to have a pop at goal.

Weaver then produced an incredible stop as he somehow got something on Preston’s fierce close range strike to deflect the ball onto the crossbar and behind.

With a little over twenty minutes remaining Osborne registered Leamington’s first effort of the afternoon on target as he chased a loose ball out to the right wing before driving back inside past a defender, but his shot lacked the power to trouble Harrison Male in the Gateshead goal.

Osborne was becoming increasingly involved as the clock began to tick down and the visitors’ attempts to help it do so became more visible. You sensed that there may be just one gilt edged chance in this game for Leamington, and it came with little more than a minute or so of injury time remaining.

Osborne was clattered to the turf by Jake Cooper as he attempted to take the ball into the penalty area on the left. The Gateshead man was furious, and was perhaps fortunate that Referee Mike Barlow did not see his sarcastic applause having just shown him a yellow card. What was to follow would have been far more frustrating however, as Osborne’s free kick was well saved by Male only for English to react quickest to bundle the ball over the line for yet another dramatic late goal at the Community Stadium, to the delight of his team mates.

It was undoubtedly harsh on Gateshead, who will surely be among the promotion contenders at the end of the season, particularly on the basis of their first half performance, but Leamington also deserve credit for the character and perseverance they displayed throughout the game, not least from their goalkeeper, which gave them a chance to snatch something at the death.

Manager’s Reaction

‘We’ve got to be happy with the point. I could probably talk about us not quite being at it and one or two individual performances but it was a masterclass from Gateshead in the first half wasn’t it? Similar to the Fylde game really. They’ve got a way they play, their system is so well drilled, and as much as you put a defensive block up and you try to combat it… I was trying to say to our players can we maybe play round them or over them, but they really got into their stride early on. They’re looking now like they were at the back end of last season that was cut short.

‘For us, we really need to be bang at it to be able to compete with a team like Gateshead, it’s as simple as that; and we weren’t in the first half, they were very good, and if it wasn’t for a brilliant individual performance from Jake Weaver the game would have been dead and buried.

‘I just felt like in the second half we had to take gambles in our press. At times you’d look at the back four and the screening midfield players just sitting off deep and not going and closing, so we just got them to be braver and go a bit closer and you could see the game turning a little bit, not that we were dominating, just the fact that it was a little bit more even - they’re still a massive threat on the break obviously, but at least we made a fight of it. And as we know from this league, it’s hugely important that if you’re second best for most of the day which we were, you’ve got to try and stay in the game. And if it was Jake Weaver’s performance or Kyle Morrison’s performance at the back, we’ve stayed in the game, so then you’ve got to throw a bit of caution to the wind, they get a little bit deeper. We know that with Kaiman Anderson coming off the bench - with Ozzy going down the middle, Junior coming on, Taylor Allen coming on - we just freshened it up a little bit. There’s always a chance, and then we’ve done well for the set play. In a game like today it was probably the only way if I’m being honest, it was probably the only way we were going to pierce them, from a dead ball situation.

‘They’ll obviously be bitterly disappointed, similar to Fylde, but as I said after that game; for the way we’ve bounced back second half, we were braver, and for the run of games we’ve had, for a part time football club like us…. We’ve shown a lot of character again today, and you can only take your hat off to the players.’

Leamington: Jake Weaver, Josh Martin, Stephan Morley, Joe Clarke, Kyle Morrison, Jack Lane, Sam Osborne, Simeon Maye, Lance Smith (15 Taylor Allen, 80), Jack Edwards © (16 Junior English, 78), Danny Waldron (12 Kaiman Anderson, 63).

Subs not used: 14 Dan Meredith, 17 Connor Taylor.

Gateshead: 13 Harrison Male, 2 Alex Nicholson, 3 George Smith, 8 Jack Hunter, 9 Jordan Cook, 10 Greg Olley ©, 12 Ged Garner (7 Macauley Langstaff, 82), 14 Kal Griffiths, 16 Jake Cooper, 18 Danny Greenfield (17 Nicky Deverdics, 74), 19 Jordan Preston ( 4 Dan Ward, 84).

Subs not used: 1 Adam Cameron, 5 Nathan Dale.

Referee: Mr Mike Barlow

Assistant Referees: Mr Liam Corbett & Mr Sam Wesson

Brakes Man of the Match: Jake Weaver.

Photos:  © Sally Ellis and Darren Clay.