According to our records, Leamington have played 12 times on this day in the past. The earliest record of us playing on this day was in 1949 in the opening game of the Birmingham Combination season. In a season where Lockheed would end up finishing second bottom, the first game set the tone for much of the rest of the season as they fell on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline against Wolverhampton Wanderers ‘A’. Bernard Jones got Lockheed’s only goal at the Windmill that day. Six years later though, it was a winning start to the season as Shrewsbury Town reserves came and were defeated 3-2. In front of a crowd of 1,571, a brace from Frank Grimwood in the first ten minutes and a second half Leslie Jakeman goal sent the home support away happy.
Another opening day win came in 1960 as Lockheed put 4 past Warwickshire rivals Stratford Town. Awde, Ward, Brown and Jepson were on the scoresheet that day. After world cup fever hit the country in 1966, it was back to earth for Lockheed as they lost 3-1 to Gainsborough Trinity on the opening day of the season. Former Barnsley and Mansfield full back Bill Poynton got Lockheed’s only goal in Lincolnshire. Another eight years went past before Lockheed, who would play the next game as AP Leamington with it being in 1974 - one year after the name change, could play on 20 August, but the wait was worth it as they beat Bromsgrove Rovers 2-1 at home. An 85th minute winner from Mick Keeley added on to his earlier goal was enough to make it four points from two games for AP.
AP made the journey to Witney in 1977 on the opening day of the season and drew 1-1 in front of 314 people thanks to an Adrian Stewart goal. In their first competitive game as Southern League Champions, AP hosted King’s Lynn on 20 August 1983. A goal from Cliff Campbell was enough for the champions in front of 353 at the Windmill Ground. The next fixture was 19 years later as Pershore visited the New Windmill Ground in 2002. Josh Blake and Paul Nicholls got the two goals, with the winner coming in the 90th minute.
Rocester visited Harbury Lane in 2005 and goals from Josh Blake, Steve Smith, Alex Rodman and Ryan Howell blew away the Romans and made it three wins from three games for Leamington. Brakes were in the Southern League by the time the next game was played and all 579 in the ground watched a Tommy Berwick hat trick, along with a Steph Morley goal, sink Weymouth 4-1. Continued progression meant the next game the club would play on this date was as a Conference North club. On the regular start of season Tuesday night slot which we haven’t had this season, Brakes travelled to Hednesford after a dream first game back as a Conference club on the Saturday as they won 2-0 against Bradford (Park Avenue) AFC and Brakes netted twice again on Tuesday 20 August with goals from Lee Chilton and Stefan Moore, but it wasn’t enough as Hednesford ran out 3-2 winners, despite being 2-0 behind.
The most recent game on this day was away at Chippenham Town in 2016. Chippenham ended Leamington’s winning streak of four games at the start of the season as 364 saw the Bluebirds take all three points with a 1-0 win in a season where the top spot would be occupied by either Leamington or Chippenham for most of the season, Chippenham eventually winning the league as champions whilst Leamington had to do it the hard way via the playoffs, but still got promoted with a 2-1 AET win against Hitchin.
Full Record:
P12 W7 D1 L4
1949: Lockheed 1-4 Wolverhampton Wanderers A
1955: Lockheed 3-2 Shrewsbury Town Reserves
1960: Stratford Town 0-4 Lockheed
1966: Gainsborough Trinity 3-1 Lockheed
1974: AP 2-1 Bromsgrove Rovers
1977: Witney Town 1-1 AP
1983: AP 1-0 King’s Lynn
2002: Leamington 2-0 Pershore Town
2005: Leamington 4-0 Rocester
2011: Leamington 4-1 Weymouth
2013: Hednesford Town 3-2 Leamington
2016: Chippenham Town 1-0 Leamington
Video credit: Hednesford Town FC
