Vanarama National League North
Tiger Turf Stadium
Sunday 1st January 2023

By Paul Edwards

Brakes recovered from a poor first half display where they battled against the elements as well as the opposition to take a point in their opening match of 2023.

Louis Hall’s unavailability due to illness saw him miss his first game since signing for the club back in August. Devon Kelly-Evans took his place at left back, while Connor Taylor filled his space from the previous game on the substitutes bench.

Leamington were on the defensive from the off, with Dom McHale and Michael Gyasi both earning cheap free kicks in the opening twenty minutes with their eagerness to go to ground at the slightest contact, or in the case of the unfortunate Callum Hawkins, no contact at all, for which the bewildered Brakes custodian was shown a yellow card.

The first free kick, just outside the box, was driven into the defensive wall, while the second also failed to trouble the Brakes defence.

In between times Hawkins produced a stunning save to deny a thunderous strike from Jack James that was heading for the top corner, before punching the resulting corner kick out from under his crossbar.

The post came to the rescue minutes after this, as McHale’s low strike struck the outside of the post after some fantastic footwork from Matt McClure set him up.

Ben Nugent tried his luck from much further out without troubling the Leamington goal, but Paul Holleran’s side were struggling to get into the game going forward at this point, and they found themselves behind on 34 minutes when McClure’s shot somehow squeezed under the unfortunate Hawkins into the net. The build up play was slick, and there was doubt that at this point the hosts fully deserved their lead.

The match was being played out in the middle of a rain storm of apocalyptic proportions by this point, with spectators scrambling for shelter as huge puddles appeared on the pitch surrounds.

Kelly-Evans got his head in the way of another effort from the Gloucester number 10 at the expense of a corner, before McClure decided he was going to try and take on the entire Leamington defence, his neat footwork getting him past several players before his shot was charged down.

He was left wondering how he had not doubled both his and Gloucester’s tally just before half time, when some fine work from Owen Evans to keep the ball in while hooking it into the box saw McClure pounce at the near post, only to be denied by another fantastic save by Hawkins. The home side would come to rue their raft of missed opportunities by the full time whistle.

McClure sent another opportunity fizzing wide early in the second half as Gloucester picked up where they had left off, but they would not have things all their own way in the second 45 minutes.

Brakes finally began to show signs of life going forward, Jack Lane playing the ball to Dan Turner after a surging run forward, but Turner unfortunately ran into a blind alley and was crowded out by defenders.

Adam Walker felt he had a shout for a penalty when he went down inside the box, but he spurned a glorious opportunity to level things up as Kelly-Evans’ ball in from the left ricocheted into his path several yards out, but he blazed his first time effort high over the bar, leaving him flat out on the artificial surface with his head in his hands, along with most of his team mates and the supporters behind the goal.

McHale had fired another effort wide for Gloucester, while Gyasi forced another fine save from Hawkins, this time with his legs, while another strike from McHale was deflected over the bar by Lane.

Billy Johnson and Turner were both briefly down as Turner attempted to charge down the City keeper’s attempted clearance, but just when it looked like Brakes were running out of time to snatch anything from the game, Walker redeemed himself for his earlier miss in stunning fashion, beating two defenders on the edge of the box before  sweeping the ball past Johnson to the delight of the travelling support behind the goal.

McHale sent a free kick just wide as the two sides exchanged yellow cards in the closing stages, but Brakes could have nicked it at the death when substitute Junior English set up Turner to drive a low shot across goal and just past the far post, while Lane was left free at the far post from a free kick into the box but was just unable to get the right connection on the ball. In the dying seconds there was a frenzied scramble inside the Gloucester penalty area, with the hosts desperately trying to clear their lines.

‘I thought we’ve had to show a lot of character’, said the manager after the game. ‘Gloucester first half, were very good; they moved the ball very quickly. They’re good here, I’ve watched them here on the 4G. Certainly towards the end of the first half it was all hands on deck. We weren’t quite good enough - we lost too many duals, battles, combinations, first contacts. I was glad to get in at half time and have a sort out.

‘I thought the character second half was brilliant. We’ve started winning the first contacts, we’ve started getting hold of the middle of the park. We’ve got our wide men into the game. What’s stopped us winning the game? We’ve had the opportunities, like we did on Boxing Day, but sadly at the moment they’re just not going in the back of the net.

‘The goal was a super goal, but I think we showed lots of character. You’ve got to be mentally very strong to hang around at this level. I could throw excuses around, but we don’t, we just keep working away, we keep plugging away, and what pleased me the most was our second half performance. We’d been knocked down a few times in the first half but we kept getting up, and came out with character and fight and played some good football, so I was delighted the response, just disappointed with the chances we’ve missed, in both games.

‘I’ve got to say, the support behind the goal second half, you could see, was like a twelfth man today. I’ve been a supporter myself - you’ll never get a problem with supporters when they see what our players give, week in week out. I just hope that some of these chances that are going the wrong side of the post, start going in hopefully in 2023.

‘At this level of football nothing gets given to you, and when you’re Leamington you’ve got to work hard , and we’re working really hard at the moment to hang on in there and keep competing to stay where we are in the league; and whether it’s the 0-0 against Brackley or the draw Boxing Day, the draw today - the players will keep doing that. We have to keep doing that. If you’re mentally tough, you’ll be ok, and that’s what I'm trying to instil into the group.’

Attendance: 758

Gloucester City: 1 Billy Johnson, 2 Daniel Leadbitter, 5 Ben Nugent, 7 Jack James, 10 Matt McClure ©, 11 Owen Evans, 14 T Obadeyi, 19 Junior Tiensa, 20 Dom McHale, 22 Michael Gyasi, 23 Jacob Agyepong.

Subs not used: 1 Brandon Hall, 15 Jake Andrews, Jack Hill, 24 Matthew Barnes-Homer

Leamington: Callum Hawkins, Dan Meredith, Devon Kelly-Evans, Joe Clarke (14 Simeon Maye, 70), Theo Streete, Jack Lane, Liam Cross, Adam Walker, Rackeem Reid (15 Junior English, 70), Jack Edwards ©, Dan Turner.

Subs not used: 12 Connor Taylor, 16 Charlie Williams, 17 James Mace.

Referee: Mr Craig Scriven

Assistant Referees: Mr George Lynch & Mr Adam Gregory

Brakes Man of the Match: Callum Hawkins.