Pre Season Friendly
Your Co-op Community Stadium
Saturday 16th July 2022

By Paul Edwards 

Paul Holleran felt that his team had dealt well with Premier League Aston Villa’s youngsters, and that the heat, coupled with late changes left them ‘out of shape’ at the end of a game which they had looked comfortable in since Dan Turner’s 39th minute opener, only for them to concede twice at the death.

With the predicted heatwave in its early stages the game was always likely to be a fragmented affair, but with the earlier kick off time of 1pm it began at a decent pace. Villa keeper James Wright came off his line quickly to clear at the feet of Turner, while Simeon Maye blocked a fierce effort from Caleb Chukwuemeka at source inside the box.

Kieran Cook was afforded two bites at the cherry inside the box on the right, clipping his second shot onto the pitch side fence. Tommi O’Reilly then drilled a low strike on the turn wide of the target at the other end for the Villa youngsters.

Cook forced a save from Wright with a low snapshot from just outside the box on the right - the keeper parrying the ball down at his near post.

One thing that stood out early on was the way the visitors pressed when out of possession, robbing Leamington on a couple of occasions just when they looked like building something promising. Brakes showed patience of their own however, Devon Kelly Evans finding Dan Meredith out on the right, who delivered a ball in from deep that Jack Edwards headed over the bar.

Just prior to the first drinks break of the afternoon Declan Frith stung the palms of Brakes' trialist keeper with a vicious effort that the goalkeeper was just unable to hold on to; Jack Lane getting in the way to prevent the ball from being recycled into the six yard box.

Anwar El Ghazi, the one first team representative in the Villa side, sent the keeper scampering across his goal as he sent a powerful strike wide of the far post, while Cook lifted the ball into the area for Turner, who saw his shot blocked behind by Frith for a corner.

Brakes were pressing forward, and a left wing throw headed on by Jack Edwards saw Turner turn sharply and slam the ball home to give Leamington a 39th minute lead.

Villa were denied an almost certain leveller right on half time as the Leamington keeper produced a stunning save to send Chukwuemeka’s attempted lob over the bar. The Villa striker then sent a downward header wide from the resulting corner before the Referee’s whistle sounded for the interval.

Brad Young’s shot on the turn was straight at Brakes' trialist keeper early in the second half, while the combination that created the opening goal almost paid dividends again for Leamington, but this time the goalkeeper got to the ball first.

Brakes’ trialist substitute was giving the left side of the Villa defence something different to contend with, and won a corner from which Jack Lane steamed in at the far post to thump a header against the post.

Second half substitute Junior English almost added a second for Brakes in the final ten minutes when he beat a defender to a long clearance from the goalkeeper, but slightly off balance, directed his effort just wide.

Brakes gave very little away in the second half, looking solid defensively. Villa substitute Kaden Young was afforded a little too much room in the closing moments, but could only send his low shot wide of the upright.

Just when it looked as though Leamington would finish their home pre season fixtures with a win, Villa were handed the chance to level in the 90th minute when Meredith was adjudged to have brought down Young, although the Brakes right back looked to be protesting that the Villa man was off the pitch. Brad Wright stepped up and fired low past the keeper to level the scores.

Villa almost snatched a winner when Wright danced through and forced a superb save from the keeper down at his near post, but the Premier League club’s youngsters were not done there - Kaden Young bending a fantastic winner into the top corner in the 92nd minute.

‘It was really tough,’ said Holleran afterwards. “I think it was a good decision from both clubs to bring the kick off back to 1 o’clock. I thought the quality of the game was really good - probably similar to Coventry and Walsall - the way they try to play through the pitch and make you work hard, but I thought we dealt with most of that and we looked a threat all afternoon. There were some really good individual performances. I just think that probably because of the heat at the end we just ran out of bodies. There were a lot of blisters, tired legs, and we were making that many changes at the end. We were just out of shape in the last ten - fifteen minutes and we never really got hold of the ball, and they’ve gone up the pitch and got two late goals. It was a really good workout though.’

Attendance: 377

Leamington: Trialist A, Dan Meredith, Stephan Morley (16 Trialist B, 49), Adam Walker (14 Joe Clarke, 68), Theo Streete, Jack Lane, Devon Kelly-Evans, Simeon Maye (12 Alex Prosser, 60), Dan Turner (15 Junior English, 68), Jack Edwards © (17 Trialist C, 79), Kieran Cook.

Aston Villa XI - First half: 1 James Wright, 3 Seb Revan, 4 Aaron O’Reilly, 5 Sil Swinkels, 6 Hayden Lindley, 7 Anwar El Ghazi, 9 Caleb Chukwuemeka, 10 Tommi O’Reilly, 11 Tyreik Wright, 15 Declan Frith, 17 Teddy Rowe.

Second half: 1 James Wright, 2 Frankie Ealing, 3 Seb Revan, 5 Sil Swinkels, 6 Hayden Lindley, 7 Anwar El Ghazi, 10 Tommi O’Reilly, 11 Tyreik Wright, 14 Brad Wright, 15 Declan Frith,18 Kerr Smith.

Substitutes: 8 Arjan Raikhy, 12 Kaden Young, 9 Caleb Chukwuemeka, 16 Chisom Afoka

Referee: Mr Jake Allsop

Assistant Referees: Mr Joe Larkin & Mr Richard Cutts