Brakes win again, but the gap stays at seven points.
Sat, 23 Feb 2008 @ The New Windmill Ground. vs Malvern Town (3-0). British Gas Business Football League Midlands Division. By D Hucker. Brakes eased past Malvern to make it twelve matches without defeat, but the gap with Evesham United stays at seven points
Prior to the start, Birmingham County FA Chairman, Roger Wood, presented Josh Blake with the award for Team of the Round for the FA Carlsberg Trophy win at Fisher Athletic last November.
Watched by another good crowd of 657, both sides struggled to control the ball in the windy conditions, although Brakes gradually got on top, forcing several good saves from visiting 'keeper Craig Humphries.
Malvern looked to play the offside trap to deny the Brakes strike force, but were caught out in the 30th minute by a long ball over the defence to Robbie Beard, who drew a brilliant one-handed save from Humphries. Shortly after, Guy Sanders planted a header onto the roof of the net from a Jamie Towers corner from the right.
Home 'keeper, Richard Morris, who was presented with a memento before the match to mark his 250th appearance for the club, then denied Malvern's substitute Ed Lyons, before Leamington went ahead on 39 minutes through leading scorer, Ben Mackey, who drilled a low shot into the corner.
Humphries made a double save from the lively Beard in the 43rd minute and again prevented the Brakes striker from scoring as the interval approached.
Leamington manager, Jason Cadden, made a substitution early in the second half, bringing on Josh Blake for the out-of-sorts Keith Rostill. The move paid immediate dividends when, on 57 minutes, Blake set up Mackey for his second. The roles were reversed three minutes later, as Mackey turned provider, and Blake sent a left-footed shot past Humphries for the third.
It was all one-way traffic from then on and Brakes created chance after chance, but Humphries pulled off yet more fine saves to deny them a fourth. He thwarted Jamie Towers with his feet and then made a good stop from Ryan Parisi, who looked threatening when switched to the right wing-back position after Towers went off. Marcus Jackson also made an impact when coming on, causing a number of problems for the tiring Malvern defence.
Manager Cadden was delighted with the result, saying "We controlled the second half from start to finish and Josh gave us a bit of spark when he came on. I really wanted Ben to get his hat-trick and, if it wasn't for the efforts of their 'keeper, he would have done so. We are now six points clear of Sutton Coldfield and this win sets us up nicely for the trip there on Monday night."
It was good to see Darran Tank in the crowd and, hopefully, we will see him back when his sabbatical is over.
Brakes Richard Morris [Capt.], Jamie Towers (Arron Parkinson 75), Ryan Parisi, Guy Sanders, Martin Hier, Craig Dutton, Liam Reynolds, Ben Mackey, Robbie Beard (Josh Blake 56), Keith Rostill (Marcus Jackson 64), James Husband
Subs Not Used Morton Titterton, Andy Harper
Malvern Town Craig Humphries, Matt Morris, Aaron Drake, Adam Harris (Mark Goodman 72), David Cannon, Daniel Moon, Andy Crowther, Jamie Hyde [Capt.], (Ed Lyons 33) Lee Hooper (Keith Jones 72), Chris Allen, Tom Lacey