Brakes Put On Romulus' Charge at the Top

320 people, mostly Brakes' fans, went to table-toppers, Romulus, to see a magnificent victory with Brakes 2-0 up at half-time through Burgess and Nicholls, adding a third at just over the hour through Sleem. A nervy first half hour could have gone either way but once Brakes got on top they played the better football against a Romulus side who were clearly shaken and whose much-lauded attack could only manage a soft, consolation goal in the 88th minute with Brakes coasting.

Romulus applied the early pressure in a tentative start as their quick forwards threatened the away goal and Brakes thumped long balls upfield in the hope of a break that would settle them down. But confidence grew as time passed and after 10 minutes play was fairly even though Romulus had the better chances. Brakes nearly paid the price of not playing to the whistle in the 15th when a static defence waited for a whistle that didn't come and were lucky to see the ball driven wide.

But there were some good passing movements that exposed the weaknesses in a Romulus side clearly more used to sitting back while their forwards ran the game. Brakes tackling and ball-winning was superb and this led to the first goal when Blake won a tackle to slip a perfect ball through for Burgess to run in from the right and drive an unstoppable shot into the left corner to make it 0-1 in the 16th.

Burgess, always a valuable player to have, played a dominating role with Blake who is probably Brakes' most improved player this season. After a couple of seasons when Blake scored lots of goals against defenders who fell over more easily he seemed to have reached his level but now, perhaps because he is to some extent released from out and out goal-scoring duties, his overall play seems to have improved to complement his undiminished speed.

But, after an overhead shot on goal from Hanrahan in the 19th the next 20 minutes belonged to Romulus, and the fact that they didn't score then decided the direction of the game. In the 25th the ball bounced between bar and post of the Brakes' goal with 'keeper Morris gazing in another direction having totally lost the ball's flight and six minutes later Romulus just needed a touch to slot the equaliser as a defence at sixes and sevens watched the ball scurry across a gaping goal. In the 32nd a good move by Blake and Sleem nearly set up Burgess for his second but this was little relief as Romulus broke immediately to bring a superb, diving save from Morris for what would have been an own goal. In the 33rd Romulus, again, threatened Brakes' goal as only desperate defending kept the ball out. Timms received a yellow card for reacting to a bad, Romulus tackle (also yellow-carded) as Brakes threatened to unravel.

But that was largely the end of the much-vaunted Romulus attack for they grew peevish at the lack of reward and, maybe, having to play in front of a large, vociferous crowd. Now Kristensen and Gregory were winning balls and Dhesi was tidying up at the back; normality was restored. But with hope growing towards expectation that Brakes had weathered the storm, and would go in at half-time in the lead, they went one better in the 45th minute, after about three minutes of added time in the first half, when Shearsby took a free kick from the left touchline, crossing low and hard for Nicholls to flick into the net, 0-2.

The young Romulus fans who had been telling us from the back of the stand that their team always went 1-0 down before coming back to win did not reappear there in the second half. Now Romulus appeared to have lost the game as much as Brakes had won it. Their threat of the first half had almost totally evaporated which seemed strange considering that 2-0 was not, yet, a match-winning margin, and certainly not for a club of their goal-scoring pedigree. Kristensen was flattened in the 57th and Sleem, soon after, got down the wing well though his cross was wasted. The crowd roared, Brakes stroked the ball around, and Romulus self-destructed. Instead of playing to their strengths they hyped eachother up so much for the required effort that there was little left for the game; it rather reminded me of the Spitting Image, TV puppet who "went off too soon" and whose head exploded. Younger readers will have to accept this or just wonder what I'm on about.

In the 63rd minute Brakes put the game beyond recall when Sleem made it 0-3. The crowd are gradually getting behind Sleem who mixes moments of superb skill with touches that don't come off. Yet he is a valuable target man, always potentially dangerous and, somehow, he's scoring important goals. This was one of them; a cross from Shearsby was bundled in by, some say, the back of his head, others his back. When I ask him he may know, then again ...

Brakes were now playing, almost, exhibition football. Nicholls and Gregory went close, a magnificent through ball from Episcopo, three minutes after coming off the bench for Timms in the 80th, set up Hanrahan for a golden chance and a returning hero, Mark Simmonds, came on to loud acclaim. Blake and Shearsby worked a short corner that nearly came off in the 85th and Nicholls almost made it a brace a minute later. Perhaps inevitably Romulus notched a consolation goal to make it 1-3 in the 88th, forcing the ball home from close range, but it was too little far too late though on the play over 90 minutes probably deserved.

As the final whistle blew the team ran to salute the crowd. Hovering in an attempt to establish the crowd size I heard the exchanges of the Romulus bench. "You'd think they'd won the cup" said one. "Well, no, but this is what a crowd celebrating sounds like". "They've won this battle but not the war". "how true, I think we realise that". Then, perhaps inevitably, "we lost it because of the three officials" (oh, pullease). Of course, I said not a word, but graciousness in defeat is, I feel, a worthy attribute, sometimes too little practised.

Leamington: Richard Morris; Jonny Burgess; Harj Dhesi; Niels Kristensen; Andy Gregory; Darren Timms (Anthony Episcopo 80); Barry Shearsby [Capt.]; Chris Hanrahan; Vernor Sleem (Mark Simmonds 83); Paul Nicholls; Josh Blake
Subs Not Used: Simon Walker

Team News: Tom Sidwell and Steve Thompson missed because of personal commitments, not injury; James Gettings not injured - tactical change - at the match with Martin Thompson, at least, and possibly others.