By David Hucker and Roger Vincent

Brakes' Bandwagon Rolls On

Leamington's deadly strike force of Josh Blake and Paul Nicholls struck again on Tuesday evening, under the New Windmill lights, to despatch a stubborn Pershore Town. There was an unseasonal chill in the air made worse by a gusty wind and the lights had to be turned on early against the gathering gloom.

But there was nothing gloomy about this Brakes side as, watched by a crowd of 413, they produced an action-packed display that deserved more than the two goals that came their way late in the match. Only an inspired performance from visiting goalkeeper Myles Day and some strong and, at times, uncompromising tackling prevented the home side from running out even more impressive winners.

Ben Adams and Chris Hammond, who impressed when coming on as substitutes in the opening match, were included right from the start and immediately showed a good understanding. They replaced Jonny Burgess, who was on the bench, and Baz Shearsby who was still suffering from the ankle injury picked up against Meir KA.

Nicholls was involved in all the early action and nearly scored with an overhead kick in the twelfth minute. Not to be outdone, Blake ran clean through nine minutes later only to see his shot well saved. At the other end, Brakes' keeper Richard Morris was hardly needed and did not make his first serious save until six minutes before half-time. However, despite all this pressure, Pershore held out to go into the interval level-pegging.

Brakes finally broke the deadlock in the 77th when a Nicholls header came back off the bar for Blake to score the first goal. 1-0. Only more fine saves from Day prevented Webb, and then Hammond, scoring in the closing minutes. Then, right on full-time, a Hammond corner was met by Nicholls who headed past the goalkeeper to make it 2-0 and maintain Leamington's perfect start to the new season.

Co-manager Jason Cadden was delighted with the result, saying "it was an outstanding performance by all the lads who battled throughout the match. The back three were superb in helping to keep a clean sheet and we are hoping to carry on the good work in our next match."

Leamington: Richard Morris, Ben Adams, Mark Rowland, Tom Sidwell, Andy Gregory, Darren Timms, Glen Webb, Chris Hammond, Josh Blake, Paul Nicholls, Steve Thompson [Capt.]
Subs Not Used: Jonny Burgess, Jag Bahi, Simon Walker