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Saturday 10th July 2021

Brakes failed to turn a promising first half into goals as they went down to a hat trick of second half strikes from a young Coventry City side on a glorious summer afternoon on Harbury Lane.

After witnessing so many games in front of an empty stadium last season it was truly uplifting to see the players enter the playing surface in front of a large 1,000 plus crowd, the skies above having fittingly morphed from grey to blue just in time for the 1pm kick off.

Brakes made a positive start to proceedings, Jack Edwards heading onto the roof of the net in the opening moments, while City’s recent recruit from Cork City Ricardo Dinanga fired first time over the bar after good play from his strike partner.

The game flowed from end to end in intense fashion in the opening fifteen minutes, Leamington again coming close when Dan Turner lifted the ball across goal from the touchline, a Trialist seeing his shot blocked on the line by keeper Charlie Callaghan.

Trialist A sent a glorious crossfield pass from half way into the path of Danny Waldron, whose diving header was some way off target.

Edwards headed high over the bar from right in front of goal after the Trialist had been brought down on the right edge of the penalty area, while Dan Turner fired over the bar from just outside the penalty area.

Both the Leamington trialists were involved in much of the teams’ forward play, and looked keen to impress and get involved, regularly winning the ball back and attempting to set up attacks.

The Sky Blues youngsters went close when George Burroughs narrowly outpaced Waldron down the right before flashing the ball across the face of goal, Jaheim White only inches from connecting.

Sky Blues keeper Callahan dominated his area well for a player of his diminutive stature, and got up well to punch clear from Turner early in the second half. Leamington applied more pressure and a Trialist forced the young keeper into another save with a shot to his near post.

The turning point of the game arrived on 56 minutes when Bradley Stretton squeezed a shot between Jake Weaver and his near post to give the visitors the lead. From that point on they seemed to hold the upper hand for a spell, in which they extended their advantage, but not before Turner hit a great controlled half volley on the turn across goal which drifted just past the far post.

The temperature had risen considerably since the game kicked off, which may have been a factor in the downturn in performance, but Brakes didn’t seem to have as much time on the ball as they had done in the first half, and fell further behind when a Trialist curled a great strike into the top corner.

It was a very welcome sight to see James Mace step off the bench to make his first appearance since the unfortunate ACL injury he sustained in what turned out to be the final game of the 2019/20 season up at Guiseley, but like his team mates he was unable to prevent the young visitors from scoring a third with ten minutes remaining, the ball being slid home by another Trialist.

Second half substitute Lance Smith crashed in a shot that left the crossbar rattling, but he ensured the afternoon wasn’t completely bereft of goals for the home support when he headed home from close range in the last minute after Joe Parker had stood the ball up superbly to the far post after good work from a Trialist.

Attendance:

Leamington: Jake Weaver (Josh Allen), Josh Martin (14 James Mace), Stephan Morley, Dan Meredith, Jack Edwards © (17 Ben McLean), Kyle Morrison, Kaiman Anderson (15 Joe Parker), Trialist A, Trialist B (16 Lance Smith), Dan Turner (18 Niall Rooney), Danny Waldron (12 Simeon Maye).

Substitute: 19 Ben Maxwell.

Coventry City: Charlie Callaghan, George Burroughs, Trialist, Joe Wynne, Shay Young, Trialist, Trialist, Aaron Evans-Harriott ©, Bradley Stretton, Ricardo Dinanga, Trialist.

Substitutes: 12 Oliver Berry, 14 Lewis McAfferty, 15 Fionn O'Brien, 16 Trialist A, 17 Trialist B, 18 Trialist C, 19 Trialist D.

Referee: Sarah Garrett

Assistant Referees: Joe Larkin & Ben Wilkinson