Vanarama National League North
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Tuesday 13th September 2022 

By Paul Edwards

Dan Turner’s second half strike, coupled with a fifth clean sheet of the season saw Leamington notch their third consecutive 1-0 victory, which moved them up with the early pacesetters in the Vanarama National League North.

Brakes had to withstand a first half onslaught from Kettering, but retaliated with one of their own in the second half, which ultimately won them the game.

There was one change to the starting eleven from the victory over Bradford Park Avenue, Simeon Maye replacing Joe Clarke in the midfield holding role. James Mace returned to the substitutes bench.

The Poppies arrived with a much changed squad from last season, with only four players remaining from the one which did so well, formerly under Paul Cox and then Ian Culverhouse. Former Nottingham Forest striker Lee Glover is now in the hot seat, and he has had to wheel and deal to assemble an almost entirely new team.

There was an impeccably observed minute's silence in memory of her majesty Queen Elizabeth II prior to kick off.

Both sides looked committed to attack in the early stages, the visitors moving the ball forward at pace, while Brakes best movements came down their right hand side, with Maye at the centre of them.

Poppies skipper Gary Stohrer registered the opening effort on goal of the evening when he snatched a little at a volley just outside the box on fifteen minutes, the ball sailing harmlessly high and wide from a Leamington perspective.

The visitors really upped the ante after this, and were well on top bar a brief counter attack from Brakes which saw Adam Walker played in up the left by Dan Turner as Brakes cleared their lines.

The Poppies forged the clearest opening so far on 25 minutes when the ball was played in low and powerfully from the right; Decarrey Sherriff forcing a fine reaction save from Callum Hawkins as he attempted to flick the ball past the Leamington keeper from point blank range at the near post.

The visitors went close again when Andre Wright thumped a shot a whisker past the upright from 20 yards or so.

Brakes were certainly being forced to defend in depth at times, but as they have generally done so far this season, they were doing it well.

Devon Kelly Evans almost committed defensive suicide when he turned back towards his own goal and was robbed on half way by Wright, who hared towards the penalty area, but he was bailed out by the experience of Theo Streete, who calmly won back possession before clearing his lines.

Towards half time Leamington began to enjoy more of the ball in the Kettering half, and Kelly Evans saw a snap shot blocked, before Dan Meredith escaped the attentions of a defender on the right before cutting in and driving low towards goal. Jack Edwards appeared to get a touch to divert it towards the net as he stumbled over, only for Cameron Gregory to deny him with an astonishing save; thrusting out an arm as he dived the wrong way.

Despite Leamington having to do most of the first half defending it was certainly an entertaining game to watch at times, with both sides carving out chances which they would have been disappointed not to have taken.

Kelly Evans was denied by Gregory a minute before the break as he nipped in behind Lewis White to home in on goal, but neither he nor Turner were able to shovel the ball home amid a sea of legs.

Whatever was said in the dressing room during the interval certainly had the desired effect, as Leamington emerged a different animal, taking the game to their visitors. Edwards saw a header punched off the line by Gregory early on as Brakes enjoyed a period of sustained pressure.

Maye was desperately unlucky when picking up a loose clearance some distance from goal and unleashing a thunderous effort that clattered off the outside of the post to safety.

The pendulum had swung firmly in Leamington’s favour now, and Turner saw a shot blocked with a suspicion of a hand from Poppies defender Brad Gascoigne that appeared to go unnoticed. The striker then cut in from the left to fire towards goal, just failing to get the strength on his shot to trouble Gregory.

The Kettering keeper was at his best once more as a sublime deep cross in from the right by Ben Usher Shipway gave Edwards the time to deliver a cushioned header that he looked to have directed perfectly into the far corner only for Gregory to deny him with his second brilliant save of the evening.

The waves of attacks needed to be taken of advantage of however, and Brakes finally cracked the Poppies defence on 67 minutes when Hawkins’ long clearance downfield was headed on by Edwards for Usher Shipway, who nodded down for the predatory Turner to sweep home to the delight of the Harbury Lane End.

Kettering were simply unable to get going in the same manner that they had done in the first half, and though Leamington were unable to make the closing stages more comfortable by creating chances to score a second they were able to see out the remaining minutes despite a late surge from the visitors.

“It was a super game,’ said Holleran afterwards. ‘I think anyone who came tonight would have seen a good tempo to the game. Both teams had spells - Kettering for large parts of the first half. They play a good brand of football and made it difficult for us, but we looked at the team, we knew what was coming, and we knew we’d have to take a really good shape in the middle of the park and just narrow the wide men up a little bit at times. We did that well… probably limited them to the one really good chance where Callum made a great save; but throughout the first half we looked a threat. Obviously we knew that if we could get our wide men into the game there would be space for us and chances for us. To be honest I think you’ve probably seen save of the season in the first half from their keeper (Cameron Gregory) - it was fantastic.

‘Coming up to half time we’ve probably had the better chances but Kettering have picked up too many seconds, they’ve had too much of the ball and we didn’t sustain any pressure. Second half we were a lot lot better. We’ve made better decisions with the ball - the goal came after a good spell of sustained pressure. If it wasn’t for poor finishing and great goalkeeping we may have had one before that. That spell was from a team that at the moment are in a good place with some experienced players locking the game off, and we were able to continue doing that.

‘The goal was fantastic - when you look back I think it was about three one touches and a finish. It was a super game. I actually think Lee (Glover, Kettering manager) has done a really good job here, because he probably only had two or three players left for whatever reasons, in the summer. To rebuild a team in this division is tough, and you can see what they’re all about - they will cause teams problems, as they did for us tonight. I was delighted with the performance overall.’

To see more of the interview please visit https://www.youtube.com/c/LeamingtonFootballClubTV when the match highlights are released.

Attendance: 422

Leamington: Callum Hawkins, Dan Meredith, Louis Hall, Simeon Maye, Theo Streete, Jack Lane, Ben Usher-Shipway (14 Kieran Cook, 79), Adam Walker, Dan Turner (17 Junior English 90+3), Jack Edwards, Devon Kelly-Evans.

Subs not used: 12 Alex Prosser, 15 James Mace, 16 Stephan Morley.

Kettering Town: 1 Cameron Gregory, 3 Harry Reilly, 4 Lewis White, 6 Brad Gascoigne, 7 Andrew Oluwabori, 8 Gary Stohrer ©, 10 Keaton Ward, 11 Rhys Sharpe, 12 George Cooper, 16 Andre Wright, 17 Decarrey Sherriff.

Subs not used: 5 Ben Toseland, 9 Jordan Graham, 14 Ethan Hill, 18 Neo Richard-Noel.

Referee: Mr Liam Corbett

Assistant Referees: Mr Mark Billingham & Mr Jack Shepherd

Brakes Man of the Match: Dan Meredith.