Emirates FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round Replay
Latimer Park
Tuesday 5th October 2021

Brakes’ poor record in the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Cup continued as they fell to a Kettering Town side who finally recorded a victory against Paul Holleran’s side at the eleventh attempt.

Leamington have not tasted success at this stage of the world’s oldest cup competition since 2005, which was the first time they had entered for seventeen years. On that occasion they made it all the way to the First Round proper, but they haven’t been anywhere near it in the years since, and the wait will go on.

With the injury to Simeon Maye, Holleran was forced to make changes to his starting eleven for the first time in several games, with Kaiman Anderson and Callum Gittings both starting their first game of the season, with Joe Parker dropping to the bench. Jack Edwards started with his suspension from Saturday’s red card not kicking in until the weekend.

Brakes were the first to show in the maiden stages of the contest, winning a corner on the left from which Dan Turner’s inswinging delivery forced Poppies keeper Rhys Davies to punch clear.

The ball was delivered back into the six yard box and Kelsey Mooney was a whisker away from forcing it home as a desperate scramble ensued, Kettering eventually managing to clear their lines.

Leamington set about their task confidently in the opening fifteen minutes but were almost caught cold from their third corner of the evening, Claudio Ofosu racing clear down the right only for the retreating Kyle Morrison to bring him to a halt with a fine challenge.

Brakes presented Kettering with the opportunity to supply Kyle Perry with the chance to grab their 900th FA Cup goal as they conceded a free kick some 30 yards from goal. The burly veteran, who grabbed two on Saturday, almost found the space for a shot but was denied by a great challenge from Edwards at the expense of a corner. Weaver rose well to punch this away, and the loose ball was eventually driven well over the bar by Ofosu.

The hosts were looking to set Callum Powell away at every opportunity, the former Leamington loan man switching wings when he got no joy from Dan Meredith, but he got little change from Jack Lane and Kyle Morrison either until the 34th minute when his pace took him clear of Morrison down the middle as the ball was played over the top, and with Weaver opting to stay on his line he was beaten by the quality of the shot, low into the net.

There was concern minutes before half time when Kelsey Mooney went down heavily under a challenge from Connor Johnson, who was booked once he got to his feet. The young Brakes striker eventually returned to the field sporting a head bandage, after Steph Morley had sent the resulting free kick whistling over the bar from 30 yards or so.

The second half began in end to end fashion, Connor Barrett testing Weaver with a snapshot from 25 yards.

The Poppies were forced into a change just before the hour mark when Davies, who hadn’t had a great deal to do, was forced off injured to be replaced by Jackson Smith.

Although Kettering forced Weaver into another save from Powell low on the turn from just outside the box it was the visiting side who were enjoying the bulk of possession without creating anything of note. The Poppies seemed content to see out the remaining twenty minutes or so, but came close to a second when Harrison Neal’s left wing corner came very close to sailing straight in, Weaver getting a last ditch hand to the ball to divert it over the crossbar.

Turner forced a fantastic save from substitute keeper Smith, the Referee’s whistle taking the drama out of the moment, and Weaver reacted equally well at the other end when substitute Jordan Crawford backheeled a right wing cross towards goal at the near post.

The relief was short-lived however as substitute Isaac Stones bundled home from close range to the delight of the home crowd.

Brakes substitute Kieran Cook had an immediate opportunity to halve the deficit, meeting a right wing centre to force another good save from Smith.

Meredith got back superbly to produce a potentially goal saving challenge as Kettering looked to really press home their advantage in the closing stages, but they had little to trouble them as they eased through to a Fourth Qualifying Round tie with Northern Premier League side Buxton.

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Having had a few hours to digest the game Paul Holleran had a bit to say. ‘I don’t think that over the two games we can talk about too much quality because both have been played in difficult conditions, but both games have offered fantastic entertainment and two very committed sets of players. Saturday was enthralling for different reasons. If we’d have had last night’s referee on Saturday then we might have gone through, but that’s another story.

‘I think the first half an hour/thirty five minutes performance from us last night was everything that we wanted to do. We tinkered with the midfield shape a bit to try and get more control in there - that worked. Obviously we had the elements with us, but we’ve done everything but score, and in that period you have to give Kettering credit because they’ve made two goal line clearances, the keeper has somehow kept one out - I’d like to see that one again - but to keep a clean sheet they’ve dug in, they’ve really dug in, and that’s what makes it more criminal for us is that in the 34th minute, when we’re in the ascendancy again, we’re attacking, and it’s from one of our balls from a set play…. I can still see it now.. It’s come around the edge of the box. I think the Referee put his whistle to his mouth - I don’t know whether it was a foul on Dan Turner or what it was - their guy has made a clearance, and that’s all it was - a clearance, but he’s caught it on the half volley and it’s gone like a rocket. But at that point then, there’s an element that because we’ve had so much of the ball in Kettering’s half, we’ve switched off a little bit. We’ve switched off, we’re square…. The only threat that would come in that first half was the grass behind the back four, and at the point where the ball dropped around the 18 yard box, if we’re switched on, my two centre halves drop 10-15 yards then, to concede that space, and we deal with it. And we haven’t.

‘There’s an old saying in football that you’re most vulnerable when you’ve got the ball, and that was a classic example, of us having so much territory in the game, not taking the chances, and then getting done, and I think that was the real turning point in the game. Momentum swung a bit and in the second half the conditions obviously suited them more, but we dealt with it. With fifteen-twenty to go we threw caution to the wind and went 4-2-4. The game was always going to be open, and not having Simeon (Maye) around as well with his legs in there we had to change it; and in the end obviously it’s too open, they’ve added a second and had a couple of other half chances, but listen, we’ve lost that game in the first 35 minutes. If we were more clinical we could have taken the chances we created.

‘It’s unforgivable the first goal, after all the effort we’ve put in, and sadly, whether it’s last night, whether it’s Saturday - their second goal, whether it’s Hereford, Curzon Ashton, whichever game you want to talk about - there’s too many games where teams aren’t having to work hard enough to score against us. And when I see how they (Kettering) defended last night when we threw everything at them…

‘That was as good an away performance in the first half an hour or so against a tough, hardened team that are big and strong and know their way around the pitch.. It was as good as it could be really. The only thing that was missing was that we couldn’t put the ball in the net. To get done like that was just pathetic really. Sadly if you’re going to defend like that you’re not going to progress in cup competitions, because you’ve got 90 minutes to deal with it, and in conditions like that the team that makes less mistakes wins the game, and that’s basically what it’s come down to. We made the mistakes, which cost us the game, whereas Kettering didn’t make many mistakes and defended their box heroically at times. You wish them well.

‘If we had reacted better with a couple of situations better on Saturday - when their right back is standing on Dan Turner, if we don’t go in pushing and shoving that gets dealt with better. When the two footed tackle on Jack Edwards - if we react better to that we don’t end up with ten men. We didn’t manage certain situations that arose with experience, we managed them with naivety, hence the reason it ended up going to a replay.

‘It was so disappointing to put such a good first half performance in and then go behind. We were always going to be up against it in the second half with the elements. We’ve ended up battered and bruised! In two games we’ve ended up with a broken leg, a red card, Kelsey Mooney has ended up with stitches in the back of his head, Kyle Morrison has ended up with a gash in the front of his head; so to put all that in and end up with all those war wounds, and to come away with nothing….. Saturday and last night we could have dealt with situations better which could have helped us progress, but it wasn’t to be. We need to move on quickly from it really.’

Attendance: 612

Kettering Town: 1 Rhys Davies (13 Jackson Smith, 57), 2 Connor Barrett, 3 Alex Brown, 4 Luke Ward, 5 Connor Johnson, 6 Chris Smith, 7 Callum Powell (8 Jordan Crawford, 84), 16 Claudio Ofosu, 24 Kyle Perry (17 Isaac Stones, 80), 10 Lamine Sherif ©, 11 Harrison Neal.

Subs not used: 12 Decarrey Sheriff, 14 Gary Stohrer, 15 Rhys Sharpe, 18 Thomas Unwin.

Leamington: Jake Weaver, Dan Meredith, Stephan Morley, Joe Clarke, Kyle Morrison, Jack Lane, Kaiman Anderson (14 Joe Parker, 71), Callum Gittings (15 Kieran Cook, 80), Kelsey Mooney (16 Junior English, 88), Jack Edwards ©, Dan Turner.

Subs not used: 12 Devon Kelly-Evans, 13 GK Josh Allen, 17 Josh Beeson, 18 Josh Martin.

Referee: Mr Oliver Mackey

Assistant Referees: Mr Ashley Clarke & Mr Niall Smith

Brakes Man of the Match: Dan Meredith.