Report
Vanarama National League North
Your Co-op Community Stadium
Saturday 7th January 2023
By Paul Edwards
Brakes aren’t losing many games at the moment, but they aren’t winning any either, as they drew their fourth consecutive National League North game. The defensive statistics remain heartening, including a tenth clean sheet of the campaign for Callum Hawkins, but with only four points separating them from the bottom four and with all but two of the sides below them having games in hand, Leamington desperately need to find their shooting boots and start turning draws into wins.
A win against a visiting Kidderminster Harriers side not exactly pulling up any trees themselves this season would have been a fantastic time to put the non winning hoodoo to bed, particularly with it being the 40th anniversary of the 1982/83 Southern League title win later this year, but ultimately neither side displayed the quality required to win the game, though Brakes certainly had the two best chances to do so.
Defending the Harbury Lane End in the first half, Leamington keeper Hawkins was treated to the rare sight of a busy and vociferous terrace behind him, who backed the team throughout, despite the vast majority of the game being played out in the Leamington half in the opening forty five minutes.
The visitors enjoyed the lion's share of the ball, but came up against a determined, organised and stubborn Brakes rearguard led by the outstanding Theo Streete, who was a rock in central defence whilst also coming close to scoring at the other end.
The first half an hour was played almost exclusively in the Leamington half, but at no stage did they ever really look under any pressure, despite being penned in. The returning Louis Hall came close to scoring on 28 minutes however, sending a first time strike towards the top left hand corner as Joe Clarke laid the ball off to him on the edge of the box, but Harriers stopper Tom Palmer plucked it out of the air well.
Streete was on hand moments before half time to prevent Kai Lissamore from getting a shot at goal as Amari Morgan-Smith picked him out with a ball in from the right, but they were the only highlights of a first half alarmingly short on goalmouth incident.
In truth the second half was little better, with defences still king, while Leamington saw more of the ball than they had done in the opening forty five minutes. With the heavy rain showers that had been falling for most of the day reappearing, this made conditions even trickier for both sides.
Streete was denied by a fantastic last ditch stop from Palmer as he connected with Liam Cross’s left wing free kick at the far post, before being in the right place to prevent Kidderminster getting a shot at goal at the other end at the expense of a corner.
From another free kick played into the box, Streete and Junior English looked to attack it at the far post but were halted by an offside decision.
The visitors won a bizarre corner when Palmer’s free kick from just inside his penalty area bounced wickedly in front of Hawkins, who was forced to palm it behind.
Streete headed well wide from a Leamington flag kick on the right after Jack Edwards headed the ball back across to him.
Substitutions for both sides failed to impact the game, but Harriers briefly thought they had won it late on when Morgan-Smith bundled the ball home only to be denied by a raised flag. The visitors registered their only other shot on target in the game in the final minute of added time, but Zak Brown could only fire straight at Hawkins.
‘We ended up playing against the conditions in both halves,’ exclaimed Paul Holleran afterwards. ‘I couldn’t believe it had swung round on us! We found it difficult to get out of our own half at times.
‘I think both sets of players need to be applauded considering those conditions today. It was a real blood and thunder, entertaining game. Obviously the people that have been up here all morning trying to get the game on, too.
‘We struggled to spin those balls in behind and attack that space, but they’re a really good side - I thought they played well today, Kiddy. They certainly edged it from box to box. We were very good at set plays - good deliveries, clear contacts on two or three occasions.
‘We’re all here, we all want Leamington to do well. You can see how hard the players are working around the place and we all want to get back to winning ways, but we’re having to work very hard to grind out results against really good sides, and that’s what you’ve got to do in this league. It’s not a league where we’re going to dominate possession and create loads of chances against the likes of Kiddy and Brackley. It’s a league where you’ve got to be hard working, structured, discipline needs to be good…. And it’s another really good clean sheet.
‘There might not have been all the goalmouth action we’d have liked today, but there was certainly lots to admire from both sets of players. We take the clean sheet, we take the point, and we move on.’
Attendance: 783 (292 away)
Leamington: Callum Hawkins, Dan Meredith, Louis Hall, Joe Clarke, Theo Streete, Jack Lane, Liam Cross (12 Devon Kelly-Evans, 77), Adam Walker, Junior English (15 Rackeem Reid, 83), Jack Edwards ©, Dan Turner.
Subs not used: 14 Simeon Maye, 16 Connor Taylor, 17 James Mace.
Kidderminster Harriers: 1 Tom Palmer, 3 Caleb Richards, 5 Krystian Pearce, 9 Amari Morgan-Smith, 12 Joe Foulkes, 14 Zak Brown, 17 Ethan Freemantle (28 Kobe Hall, 83), 18 Kai Lissamore (7 Tom Owen-Evans, 61), 19 Jack Bearne (10 Ashley Hemmings, 61), 20 Reiss McNally, 23 Shane Byrne ©.
Subs not used: 15 Keziah Martin, 16 Ben Margetson.
Referee: Mr Gareth Thomas
Assistant Referees: Mr Mr Thomas Dickens & Mr Minesh Gupta
Brakes Man of the Match: Theo Streete.
