Vanarama National League North
Your Co-op Community Stadium
Tuesday 7th September 2021

On a sweltering September evening when the first falling leaves from the surrounding trees signalled the approach of Autumn, Brakes remained cool to overturn a half time deficit and inflict a first defeat of the season on visitors Gateshead.

Having lost the original fixture on the opening day of the season Leamington came into this one off the back of two defeats, with those coming through the turnstiles unsure of what to expect after a resounding defeat to Curzon Ashton on Saturday. One thing that Paul Holleran’s teams are renowned for is their ability to respond positively to a setback, and after a shaky first half they certainly did just that.

Kyle Morrison came within inches of scoring his first goal for the club in the fourth minute when Dan Turner did well to win a corner on the left, the ball being played into the middle, the centre back doing well to dig out a shot that was blocked on the line by some part of Louis Storey’s body.

Jake Weave held a low drive across goal down by the post before the ‘Heed player manager Mike Williamson flashed a header just wide of the upright from a corner. The visitors would open the scoring on 16 minutes however when Cedwyn Scott’s low strike whistled past Weaver into the net. The majority of the crowd were momentarily stunned as they realised a goal had been scored, but the ball was somehow halfway across the Leamington half.

Brakes almost played themselves into trouble on several occasions with misplaced passes, but while Gateshead clearly had the players to cause problems for their hosts and enjoyed the bulk of the first half possession, they were unable to threaten Weaver’s goal.

Kelsey Mooney’s header from Joe Parker’s right wing cross directed into the arms of keeper Jacob Chapman was Leamington’s only other effort on goal in the opening 45 minutes.

The visitors saw a shot cleared off the line early in the second half, but with the home fans finding their voices and turning up the volume, the team seemed to respond, and hauled themselves level on 59 minutes. Parker was the architect, his free kick into a packed penalty area landed in the perfect place to cause pandemonium, which was what ensued on the car park side terrace as Mooney reacted quickest to stab home his first goal for the club from close range.

Weaver ensured the goal was not in vain, diving low to his right to produce a superb save as Gateshead looked to find a second goal, but with 16 minutes remaining Leamington struck again from an almost identical set piece situation to move in front.

Once again it was Parker who delivered the dead ball from the right, and this time Jack Lane delivered the finishing touch, from close range to send the home fans wild.

Jack Edwards sent a shot into the side netting as Brakes looked for a potentially game-killing third, but Weaver was on hand once more at the other end to keep his team ahead, pulling off another superb save.

The visitors almost contrived to hand their hosts a third goal as the ball struck the top of the crossbar off a defender late on, but Brakes saw out the remaining minutes to claim a creditable second win of the season against another of the teams fancied to be up there fighting for promotion.

‘You’ve got to do the basics right in football’, said Paul Holleran after the game. ‘And what we drilled into the players after Saturday’s and probably coming into today’s game was individually, lets get all the basics right first.

‘As a possession based football team there probably isn’t a better one in the National League North than Gateshead, but the key thing for us was to get our wide men into the game, and I think that is probably as well as we have played against them. To beat two sides that are predicted to be up there this season, I think the players deserve a lot of credit.

‘I thought it would take us a few weeks to get going after what happened with covid, which is why I was so pleased with the Spennymoor result. It’s been an eventful couple of weeks; there’s been highs and lows, but today has been a great response against a really good side, with some great individual performances.’

Attendance: 382

Leamington: Jake Weaver, Josh Martin, Dan Meredith, Joe Clarke, Kyle Morrison, Jack Lane, Joe Parker (16 Kaiman Anderson, 79), Simeon Maye (14 Callum Gittings, 83), Kelsey Mooney  (17 Junior English, 90), Jack Edwards ©, Dan Turner.

Subs not used: 12 Devon Kelly-Evans, 15 Kieran Cook.

Gateshead: 1 Jacob Chapman, 2 Alex Nicholson, 3 Robbie Tinkler (12 Dan Ward, 68), 6 Mike Williamson, 7 Macaulay Langstaff, 10 Greg Olley ©, 9 Paul Blackett, 14 Louis Storey, 19 Cedwyn Scott, 20 Owen Bailey (11 Adam Campbell, 79), 24 Matty Jacob.

Subs not used: 31 Sam Guthrie, 18 Ryan Wombwell.

Referee: Mr Jason Richardson

Assistant Referees: Mr Gareth Viccars & Mr Kurt Bartlett

Brakes Man of the Match: Joe Parker.