By Roger Vincent

"... Nothing Better To Do?"

Another large away following of 150-200 fans came by coach and car to Claines deep in the Worcestershire countryside. The club house perched high above the pitch afforded panoramic views of the Malvern Hills on the horizon with the lights of Worcester City below - "just like being on holiday" one fan observed as she sipped her drink on the verandah.

A slightly different viewpoint came from one of their players, who'd better remain nameless, as he wistfully addressed the crowd: "So many of you who've come to watch a crap team like us, haven't you got anything better to do?" The answer, of course, is "not that I can think of, with your socks on anyway" and so we came to watch our team get the 3 points necessary to ensure promotion.

Daz Timms potted the first on 16 minutes with Glen Webb 3 minutes later, Brakes 100th goal in all competitions this season. Now purists might argue that Webbie's effort was an own goal, but not in my book. If he hadn't headed their defender it wouldn't have come off that defender's head into the goal. Anybody arguing? Good. A delicately placed shot from Bagar in the 36th and a firm drive into the corner by Baz Shearsby from a left-wing cross in the 43rd made it 4-0 at half-time.

The team coasted in a 2nd half notable for a superb run the length of the pitch by Rugrat and 2 brilliant saves from their goalie who had overcome his 1st half nerves when he looked vulnerable. With Brakes constantly pressing it seemed only a matter of time before we scored several more. But County defended superbly, probably helped by some 1st teamers, and with Brakes constantly in the County half a rare mistake from one of our players, who mis-hit a pass into the path of one of their forwards, saw County pull back an unlikely goal.

But, no matter. The crowd sang happily as Brakes clinched promotion and chanted the name of former Brakes boss from the glory days of the treble, Graham Allner, now assistant manager at Cheltenham Town, who watched the game and, reportedly, was impressed. He even proposed bringing a Cheltenham team over for a pre-season friendly. Roll on the new glory days at the New Windmill - definitely not a waste of time.

Leamington Richard Morris; Jon Burgess; Will Payne; Adam Ball; Kevin Ariss; Darren Timms; Stuart Hepburn; Barry Shearsby (Martin Beeston 66m); Glen Webb; Brian Agar (captain); Steve Thompson (Guy Rippon 56m)
Unused sub: Ian Billington