Report

As huge days in a season go, this one probably couldn’t have gone much better for Leamington. With all four clubs in the bottom four picking up points to put the pressure on the four above them, who all lost, this win for Brakes sets up a huge clash at Kettering Town on Monday afternoon, with the hosts and Farsley Celtic now just a point ahead.

With so much at stake it was probably not surprising that there was a clear sense of unease among the home support prior to and as the game kicked off, nervous at what might unfold over the course of the afternoon.

This would not have been helped as visitors Hereford carved out the first chance of the game on 14 minutes as Tyrone Barnett, who first played against Leamington for Willenhall Town back in 2007, directed a header from a left wing cross towards the top corner, but Ted Cann settled the jitters, barely having to extend his huge frame to divert the ball behind for a corner.

Aaron Amadi-Holloway headed a right wing corner well wide, but Leamington fears were replaced with cheers within two minutes, as following a throw in close to the penalty area which was won by Hulbert. Dan Meredith exchanged passes with Sam Perry from the throw before delivering the ball into the box which Hulbert rose to glance into the far corner to get that crucial opening goal.

Barnett attempted to win his side a penalty as he went down rather easily in the box under a challenge from Jack Lane, but Referee Harry Warner was not interested. Miles Storey then blazed another effort over the crossbar.

There was another hairy moment for Leamington from a left wing Hereford corner when a shot struck the post, and there was an almighty scramble before another shot was rolled into the arms of Cann.

Hereford continued to threaten, and Storey saw a decent goalbound header from a great cross by Sean Lawton pawed over the bar by a superb save from Cann with minutes to go to the break.

While Brakes had worked hard since the opener they hadn’t really been able to create any further chances, and this spilled over into the second half, but the frequency of opportunities on goal for the visitors was reduced, although they spent a lot of time in the Leamington half.

Harry Pinchard fired over from a good Hereford counter attack, while Luke Haines got in just ahead of Hulbert to poke back to his keeper Dale Eve.

There was more solid defending from Meredith as Hereford came close again, while Amadi-Holloway’s header from Pinchard’s free kick flew wide.

The tension was palpable as Leamington struggled to get hold of the ball for a sustained period. Indeed, the second half was nearly 25 minutes old before they enjoyed a spell of pressure, with Cross seeing a shot blocked at the far post.

Hereford’s afternoon in front of goal was probably summed up when they were literally presented with the ball as the Brakes defence almost committed hari-kari when there initially appeared to be no danger, but the Bulls were simply unable to capitalise, and they were punished with six minutes remaining. From a throw in on the right substitute Joe Clarke and Meredith were involved, and when the latter’s cross was blocked it was picked up by Cross, who thumped a low, powerful drive through a sea of legs and beyond goalkeeper Eve into the far corner to spark an explosion of joy in the home sections of the ground.

Speaking to Dave Sharpe on BBC CWR after the game, the manager said ‘Whatever you say or do as a coach, nothing can replicate three points and a clean sheet when you’re in the position we are in.

‘Is the league a fair reflection of our season? I suppose after 40 odd games it is, but we could have had another 7 or 8 points on the board easily, but we haven’t, and we have to get on with it. You’ve probably seen today a team that works extremely hard, is well disciplined, well organised, and with that bit of magic from Liam Cross and a bit of quality from Ollie Hulbert, we’ve scored two super goals today.

‘We’ve had to dip into the loan market to cover for all sorts of injuries to key players this season, and the lads we have got in, you know they are not used to play this amount of games, and they have to be managed a little bit, but we’ve seen the impact they’ve had for us today.’

Attendance: 968 (271 away)

Leamington: Ted Cann, Dan Meredith, Louis Hall, Sam Perry (15 Joe Clarke, 64), Theo Streete, Jack Lane, Liam Cross, Adam Walker, Ollie Hulbert (14 Kelsey Mooney, 85), Jack Edwards © (12 Devon Kelly-Evans, 75), Dan Turner.

Subs not used: 16 Ben Usher-Shipway, 17 Junior English.

Hereford: 12 Dale Eve, 2 Jared Hodgkiss ©, 4 Luke Haines (6 Kane Thompson-Sommers, 74), 5 Zak Lilly, 8 Ryan Lloyd (20 Dan Jarvis, 84), 9 Aaron Amadi-Holloway, 10 Harry Pinchard,11 Miles Storey, 23 Tyrone Barnett, 35 Sean Lawton.

Subs not used: 15 Jethro Hanson, 16 Orrin Pendley, 34 Jamie Egan.

Referee: Mr Harry Warner

Assistant Referees: Mr Harley Hetherington & Mr Josh Brookland

Brakes Man of the Match: Ted Cann.