By David Hucker

Marconi Dent Brakes' Title Hopes (Again)

For the second time in less than a week, a Leamington side failed to cover itself in glory at the Marconi Sports Ground. Young Brakes did at least go one better than the senior side in scoring a goal but, in all honesty, they were found wanting and did not look happy at any stage of the match.

The Warwickshire Academy had been in action during the afternoon and this robbed the youth team of some of its players, forcing changes in the line-up from the previous match. Marconi took the game to Brakes with two good goalscoring opportunities within the first three minutes and it was not until the eleventh minute that the visitors had a shot on goal. The Marconi defence failed to clear a Phil Thompson corner but defender Lee Scott put his shot wide.

On twenty-five minutes the busy Nick Kyriacou forced a defender into a hurried back-pass and Chris Lewis nipped in to strike on goal only to see his shot was well saved. Any thoughts that this signalled the start of a Brakes' surge were banished on 32 minutes when skipper Tim Green was adjudged to have fouled inside the penalty area and Matthew O'Rourke, who had a good game for the seniors on Saturday, put Marconi ahead from the spot.

Then to make matters worse, O'Rouke scored his second on 38 minutes when he took advantage of a rush of blood to the head (or more precisely to the halfway line) by the Brakes defence which looked in vain for an offside decision that never came. Brakes did at least end the first half on top with Kyriacou shooting just over.

Stuart Poole came on for Alex Shaw which allowed Martin Groves to push forward and, within three minutes of the restart, Brakes nearly got one back through a Josh Tolley free-kick which was well-saved. On 62 minutes, Kyriacou fed Tolley out on the left but his shot went across the face of the goal. The introduction of Neil Stacey added some bite to the Brakes' attack and he nearly scored with a shot into the side netting with six minutes remaining. On the stroke of full-time, Kyriacou got the reward he deserved for running and trying throughout the ninety minutes but his goal came too late to rescue Brakes from their first league defeat of the season.

With six matches remaining, Brakes still have the championship of the Eastern Division in their grasp but they will need to improve on this performance to be sure of winning it.

Leamington Youth: Lee van der Heyden; Alex Shaw (Stuart Poole 46); Martin Groves; Mark Beezley; Lee Scott; Tim Green [Capt.]; Phil Thompson; Paul Wilkinson (Kyle Crowley 81); Chris Lewis (Neil Stacey 64); Nick Kyriacou; Josh Tolley
Sub(s) Not Used: Nick Collen