Pitching In Southern League Central Premier Division
The Glencar Community Stadium
Saturday 6th January 2024

Super sub Will Shorrock instigated a brighter second half performance from Leamington as they completed a league double over Berkhamsted to move into second place in the table.

On a heavy pitch against a rejuvenated home side with a new manager and several new faces in their squad Brakes had found the going tough in the opening 45 minutes, but they found their feet quickly after the resumption thanks to the half time substitute, and eased to a relatively comfortable three points thanks to another substitute in Jiah Medrano, who scored with virtually his first touch of the ball.

The game got off to a scrappy start, with neither side able to keep hold of the ball for too long, or conjure up any shots at goal.

Jack Edwards blocked a shot from Matt Bateman with his backside as the Comrades looked to take the initiative against their promotion chasing visitors. Lesley Duru then struck another effort over the bar.

Henry Landers was played in on the right and forced a save from Comrades’ keeper Jamie Head with his legs, before Bateman crashed in a fine opportunist effort that had Callum Hawkins scrambling across his goal as the ball whistled just over his crossbar.

Cally Stewart showed some quick thinking and improvisation as latched on to Dan Meredith’s pass on the edge of the box, poking a half volley towards goal which was held by Head, before turning sharply to fire in another shot at the keeper after Adam Walker had played the ball into him quickly when the home side failed to get it clear.

Stewart was then involved in a lengthy stoppage after clashing heads with Berkhamsted central defender Sam McClelland. The Berkhamsted man was shown a yellow card after finally clambering to his feet with a heavily bandaged head, and was immediately substituted, while Stewart continued until half time after an ice pack to his forehead.

From the free kick that followed Lynford Sackey did well to head the ball away from Tyrone Barnett. Ewan Williams headed against the far post from close range from the resulting corner; the Referee immediately blowing up for half time.

Shorrock was busy as soon as he set foot on the pitch, chasing the ball to the touchline for what looked a lost cause until he clipped it back across the goalmouth, Head getting hand to it and conceding a corner.

Walker took over from Landers on the edge of the box, and was challenged as he fired towards goal, while some good link up play on the right between Landers, Meredith and Shorrock saw the ball played in for Barnett to send a half volley just past the post.

Just past the hour mark Shorrock opened the scoring with his first goal for the club. His initial effort appeared to strike the arm of a defender, but the ball sat up nicely for him to drill a low strike under the diving Head from a tight angle.

Jordan Frederick fired straight at Hawkins as Berkhamsted attempted an immediate response, but confidence was flowing through the Brakes ranks now, as they played some neat one touch stuff up the right. Shorrock glanced Joe Clarke’s cross just past the far post.

Medrano was introduced with thirteen minutes of normal time remaining, and within three minutes he had nodded home Shorrock’s right wing centre to put Leamington in a commanding position going into the final minutes of the game.

Barnett’s header from Quaynor’s deep free kick was held by the goalkeeper, while Sami Bessadi was unfortunate with a late strike that bounced off the post into the grateful arms of Hawkins, before screwing another effort well wide with the final kick of the afternoon.

‘The conditions were tough, but I think this was our best performance over the last four games because this is a really tough place to come,’ said Paul Holleran after the game. ‘Berkhamsted did well to get the game on. They’re good people, and obviously they've got the bounce of having a new manager and some new players. Their form here is good anyway - they’ve struggled on the road but they’ve taken some scalps here, and you could see what they are all about today.

‘It was a bitty game, difficult to play. I thought in the first half an hour we needed to take the sting out of the game, and I thought we did that well. From about half an hour onwards we played really well. The game opened up a bit. There’s an old saying, you have to earn the right to play, and we did that, the game opened up a bit, and there were some really good individual performances - Ewan Williams, Will Shorrock, Joe Clarke, Adam Walker in the middle of the park - I thought we were really strong in there. We were strong all over the pitch really. In actual fact I was impressed with how well we did play in the second half. It probably helped that they were coming out to try and win the game, and left spaces for us, but it was a really good performance. I’m really pleased with them today.

‘Will Shorrock turned the game when he came on. He really gave us a different dimension. He had the bit between his teeth. He scored one - I think a lot of the good things in the second half he was involved in. That’s what you want from your players coming off the bench - Will coming on and playing like that; you’v got Jiah coming on and playing like that and nicking himself another goal, and as a manager that’s all you can ask for really, is for players to come on and perform like that.

On Cally Stewart’s injury, he said: ‘Obviously both physios came on and did the concussion test, and both were ok to continue. The Berkhamsted lad had quite a nasty cut, but Callum seemed ok. He didn’t seem quite right at half time so we took him off as a precaution really.’

Captain Adam Walker echoed his manager’s sentiments, adding ‘The boys dug in, it was a different type of game today - every man for himself, and the boys who came on did brilliantly and we got what we deserved in the end.

‘We had a couple of chances to go in at half time ahead, but Will’s come on and done brilliantly to be fair, Jiah as well. We got on top in the second half, the shape was good and the forward players were really dominant. It was a great result and a nice clean sheet.’

Attendance: 354

Berkhamsted: Jamie Head, Lynford Sackey, Lesley Duru, Mark Riddick (17 Joshua Chamberlain, 75), Sam McClelland (12 Hamilton Bunga, 45), Luke Massingham, Max Bustamante MacAire (14 Olumayowa Lawal, 56), Jordan Frederick, Matthew Bateman, Sami Bessadi, Kyal Williams.

Subs not used: 15 Daniel Newton, 16 Callum Ismail.

Leamington: Callum Hawkins, Dan Meredith, Josh Quaynor, Joe Clarke (16 Dom Brown-Hill, 88), Jack Edwards, Theo Streete, Henry Landers (12 Jiah Medrano, 77), Adam Walker, Callum Stewart (14 Will Shorrock, 46), Tyrone Barnett, Ewan Williams.

Subs not used: 15 Connor Taylor, 17 Dan Baldwin.

Referee: Mr Stuart Kyle

Assistant Referees: Mr Peter Creach & Mr Chaplin Tan

Brakes Man of the Match: Will Shorrock.