By David Hucker

Brakes Tested to the Limit

Leamington made their first away match of the season a winning one when coming from behind to beat second-place Romulus at Sutton Coldfield on Saturday. A goal down after 22 minutes, Brakes responded with strikes from Brian Agar and Paul Nicholls to take the lead before half-time and hold out in the second half to stay close on the heels of leaders Rugby Town.

With Josh Blake still not fully recovered from the injury picked up on Bank Holiday Monday, Brian Agar partnered Paul Nicholls up front. In the early stages, it was Nicholls who had the best chances to score but, unusually for him, his shooting was off-target. With the wind at their backs, Romulus caused the visitors plenty of problems from long punts up field by goalkeeper Derek Dudley and it was from one of these that Matt Hawker scored via the post to give them the lead.

Brakes kept to their task and on 38 minutes, the excellent Glen Webb combined with Chris Hammond and Paul Nicholls to set up Agar for his first goal of the season. Then, on the stroke of half-time, a cross from deep on the left by Captain Steve Thompson was met by Nicholls whose header went in to the top corner to give Brakes the lead.

With Darren Timms battling hard in midfield and Simon Walker back to near his best form of last season, Brakes withstood everything that Romulus threw at them in the second half. Indeed, Paul Nicholls could have extended the lead on 64 minutes when he picked up a through ball from Thompson but shot straight at the 'keeper. Young Mark Rowland also had a good match in the centre of the defence and Nick Mort, returning to the side as a second-half substitute for Jag Bahi, almost scored on 78 minutes, shooting just wide.

This was a solid Brakes' performance against a side that will be very hard to beat this season. Joint-Manager Barry Proctor was understandably pleased with his side's fourth win in five matches, saying 'We created a lot of openings early on and all credit to Paul for his goal, which was probably the hardest of his chances. We competed well in the second-half and restricted Romulus to few goal-scoring opportunities".

The crowd of 172 was mainly composed of visiting supporters and was the largest that Romulus had attracted for two seasons.

Leamington: Myles Day, Jag Bahi (Nick Mort 67), Simon Walker, Tom Sidwell, Mark Rowland, Chris Hammond, Darren Timms, Glen Webb, Brian Agar, Paul Nicholls, Steve Thompson [Capt.]
Subs Not Used: Josh Blake, Chris Hanrahan

Team News: Josh Blake is still carrying an injury picked up last match and is not fully fit.