Meir Put to Bed With Another Clean Sheet

364 people saw Brakes move back to the top of the table with second-half goals from Care and Sleem, the latter his first for Brakes in competitive matches. With the heat wave returning Brakes proved the most resilient but Meir, the form team in the second half of last season, could have taken Brakes' 100% record in a soporific first half.

This was a tight game with few clear-cut chances with a hot sun breaking through soon after the start. The ball accelerated off the dry, bone-hard pitch but what football there was came from Brakes. Care used his speed to good effect and Sleem gave something to the front line that has been missing since Agar's retirement, the ability to shield and hold up the ball. Sleem and Burgess combined well in the 10th to set up Timms who was just over and Burgess and Blake got in a tangle together in the 18th with the goal beckoning. Timms went close twice more in the first half with a shot from distance in the 22nd and a header from a Shearsby cross in the 37th but the half ended with Meir coming back into the game and forcing Gettings to kick clear in the 44th with a goal looking more likely.

Meir were now enjoying a period of ascendancy and in the 54th rattled the crossbar with only desperate defending keeping Brakes' clean sheet. But they absorbed the pressure and took the lead, after good work by Burgess, in the 62nd when Care hooked the ball into the top corner from 10yds, 1-0. Gettings again saved the day when Brakes' inceasingly assured 'keeper palmed over in the 66th but Brakes looked less likely to concede as the game wore on in the pounding heat and Meir wilted.

Care was causing all sorts of problems up front with his speed, having swapped his wing-back role with Burgess, and was brought down so heavily at one point that he needed water to wash the sand out of his mouth. Shearsby was in magnificent form as Brakes sought the comfort zone but with 90 minutes already up it was Sleem who crashed the ball past a static 'keeper to make it 2-0 after 5 minutes of added time.

Leamington: James Gettings; David Care; Harj Dhesi; Simon Walker; Tom Sidwell; Darren Timms [Capt.]; Simon Wickson (Chris Hanrahan 76); Barry Shearsby; Jonny Burgess (Scott Easterlow 70); Vernor Sleem; Josh Blake
Subs Not Used: James Harri

Team News: Paul Nicholls back