By Bobby Tom-Sweenie

Getting Out of Gaol

This could have been a Tally Ho - Oh no! Another abysmal first half showing from our heroes did much to depress the large away support for this midweek encounter with the law. Fouls on Josh Blake in the second minute started things off nicely when Darren Timms converted from the spot to continue his rich vein of recent goalscoring form. At this rate we could have been excused for thinking that we were going to better our 7-0 thrashing of the Police at the NWG back in early September last year. Especially as Daz had the ball in the net again within moments of his spot kick. The disallowed goal however, set the tone for the rest of the evening.

Just over ten minutes later the Police Reserves (?) had nicked an equaliser. Hello, hello, hello - what's all this then?...the home side was indeed unrecognisable from the team Brakes had previously played! Hmmm! In a collectively poor team performance, Simon Wickson was the man to rise above the mediocrity, providing some impressive crosses for our strikeforce to squander. The memory of last Saturday's turnaround in performance for the second half at Malvern was the only thing that gave us hope for the second 45.

Statement of fact. Brakes were criminal in the second half as well! None of the team could provide an alibi, where was our scintillating footballing side for this game? Brakes continued to look like they would be lucky to escape with a point before the all-important introduction of substitutes Thommo and Baga. From their appearances on the park, Brakes subsequently became more cohesive in their approach play. Baga was unlucky not to get on the score sheet himself as it was left to Thommo to sneak us the 3 points. His congested penalty area-splitting shot with a quarter of an hour to go proved to be the decisive moment of a thoroughly forgettable match. It could be stated under an oath that the home side certainly let us off with a warning!

Leamington Paul O'Keeffe; Jon Burgess (Brian Agar 65m); Guy Rippon; Stuart Hepburn (captain); Kevin Ariss; Adam Ball; Barry Shearsby; Darren Timms; Josh Blake; Ian Billington; Simon Wickson (Steve Thompson 60m)