Vanarama National League North
Croft Park
Saturday 6th November 2021

The longest away trip of the season was fully worthwhile as Brakes collected their first win on their travels at the home of Blyth Spartans.

It was a fully deserved win for Paul Holleran’s men, and the goals came from possibly the most unlikely of scorers.

There were three changes to the starting eleven, Steph Morley, Callum Gittings and Devon Kelly-Evans replacing Josh Martin, Joe Willis and Kieran Cook, while Junior English was absent from the squad altogether through illness. Having missed the last four games, Kelsey Mooney was on the substitutes bench.

There was a moving tribute to our fallen war heroes prior to kick off, and the game started to a backdrop of a strong swirling wind and rain, which quickly subsided, but the breeze made conditions tough for both sides.

Spartans skipper Nathan Buddle picked up a very early booking as Brakes won a free kick some 20 yards from goal on the right which came to nothing.

Callum Gittings was afforded plenty of space just outside the box to put his laces through a low drive that whistled just past the left hand upright.

Jordan Hickey registered Blyth’s first effort of the afternoon on sixteen minutes, but slipped as he connected with the ball, which flew well wide of Jake Weaver’s goal. At the other end Joe Parker did the same, but his shot nestled comfortably in the arms of Alex Mitchell.

Turner cut into the box from the left and drifted past a couple of challenges before seeing his shot blocked, but the ball only bounced as far as Morley, whose shot was deflected behind for the first of two successive corners.

Weaver was the first keeper to be fully tested as he pushed a stinging effort from Lewis McNall over his crossbar.

Jack Lane headed a decent chance wide from a free kick won out on the left by Turner which was flicked on inside the box before Toby Lees crashed a knock down high over the bar from a good position as both sides traded half chances in what was proving to be an even contest.

Brakes moved ahead with a tremendous strike four minutes before half time. Turner looked to have been fouled as two defenders converged on him just outside the box, but Kelly-Evans did not wait for the Referee’s whistle, and curled a delightful effort inside the near post past the diving Mitchell.

Five minutes into the second half the lead was doubled in outrageous fashion from the most unlikely of sources. Mitchell cleared his lines to half way, probably expecting to help his side onto the attack. What nobody expected was for Joe Clarke to meet the ball and connect perfectly with it to send it sailing back over the stranded goalkeeper’s head into the empty net, to the delight of the small band of travelling fans behind that goal. To put it into context it was only Clarke’s second goal for the club on his 152nd appearance - but what a goal it was.

Edwards sent a powerful header flashing over the crossbar as Leamington went for a third goal to really put the game to bed.

Mooney was introduced with just over twenty minutes remaining and went close with his first involvement, meeting a cross with a shot on the turn that was well blocked. He then sent another shot into the arms of the goalkeeper.

The defensive unit had been imperious all afternoon, but Weaver was called upon to make a tremendous save to deny Connor Thomson as Blyth probed in vain for a route back into the contest.

Leamington had chances to break and really force home their advantage in the closing stages, but two goals were enough to ensure a happy homeward journey back to Warwickshire.

‘It’s a really difficult day to do this (journey) in one day,’ said Paul Holleran after the game. ‘There wasn’t much in the game in the first half - I thought they (Blyth) were very brave with their system - the conditions were tough as well. We dealt with the first fifteen to twenty minutes and then gradually got on top, and scored a great fantastic goal to get our noses ahead… And we did ok then. We played really well in the second half. I thought second half we really played our system well. Our full backs and wide men got it into the 9 and the 10 better; and we’ve scored a wonder goal haven’t we? I think some of our play perhaps deserved more.

‘It’s a long old day but it’s a good place to come. It’s a long old day but Blyth is a great football club with a great history. There’s some great people here and you enjoy coming here. There were some fantastic individual performances today - I wouldn’t know where to start. The key thing today with the conditions and everything was, we had to show lots of desire and character, and our concentration levels to a man were good today. There were lots of 8 out of 10’s out there, and when you’ve got that you tend to do well. It was good to get Kelsey Mooney and Steph Morley back out there after their illnesses too. It’s a good place to be, it’s been a good afternoon for us - topped off by the Chairman getting a round in!’

Attendance: 635

Blyth Spartans: 1 Alex Mitchell, 3 Michael Liddle, 5 Nathan Buddle ©, 6 Jordan Watson (19 Connor Thomson 64), 8 Jordan Hickey (16 Cameron Painter, 80), 10 JJ O’Donnell, 14 Lewis McNall, 15 Corey McKeown (11 Robbie Dale, 60), 17 Nicky Deverdics, 18 Toby Lees, 23 Dom Tear.

Subs not used: 2 Rhys Evans, 12 Karl Byrne.

Leamington: Jake Weaver, Dan Meredith, Stephan Morley, Joe Clarke, Kyle Morrison, Jack Lane, Joe Parker (16 Kelsey Mooney, 69), Callum Gittings (12 Joe Willis, 90), Dan Turner (15 Kaiman Anderson, 81), Jack Edwards ©, Devon Kelly-Evans.

Subs not used: 14 Kieran Cook, 17 Josh Martin.

Referee: Mr James Bancroft

Assistant Referees: Mr Matthew East & Mr David Holmes

Brakes Man of the Match: Devon Kelly-Evans.