Brakes Slip Through to Round 3

A night of driving rain with a cold wind whistling around the small stand had about 100, good humoured fans huddled together pleading for a result, any result, so that they could go home. But with the slippery conditions having the biggest say early drama, when Morris saved a penalty, was not sustained nor was the crowd heeded as the match went to extra time with the scores 1-1 after a Nicholls strike in the 32nd was cancelled out by Massey 10 minutes later. But it was Brakes who settled it with a goal three minutes from the end of extra time, popular opinion giving it to Blake, curmudgeons reckoning it was an own goal, but the majority caring not a jot as it meant that they could now go home, with a Brakes' win as a bonus.

Driving rain started shortly before this match got underway and never let up. A two-footed tackle on Burgess in the second minute forced him to leave the pitch for treatment and Shearsby was down by the fifth. It was hard to see what was going on from a crowded stand, with steam rising from so many bodies, but there seemed a hint of "industrial" activity in an attempt to unsettle Brakes. There was certainly no allowance for the conditions when Blake slipped and fell on the greasy surface catching the ball as he sought to break his fall. But justice was done when Morris dived to his right to make a superb 7th minute save from the penalty. With the game not yet 1/4 hour old Care aggravated a hamstring stretching to make a tackle and had to be replaced by Timms.

But all seemed OK as Brakes seemed well on top and converted through Nicholls in the 32nd minute when he blasted home a Shearsby corner to make it 0-1. News from the shower-room later suggested that, rather than a blast, it "hit me in the face and went in and I didn't know much about it"! I'd put this down to jealousy but the source seems to have been the man himself! Anyway, natural strikers score with all parts of the body, well, most anyway. Hanrahan missed a good chance four minutes later with a free header which, given the conditions, could well have settled the game. But it was Massey who scored an unlikely equaliser in the 42nd when a cross from the right after a corner was missed by everyone and slotted in at the far post, for 1-1, with Morris appealing for offside. This resulted in Massey's best spell, before half-time after several added minutes, and they nearly took the lead hitting the post with Morris stranded.

The defence was playing superbly with Sidwell outstanding but all playing their part. Shearsby was Brakes' most influential player, at the heart of most that was happening, and his thunderous drive from 20yds rattled the underside of the bar in the 59th. But there was little else to report in the rest of normal time as the conditions took control and both sides nullified the other's efforts. As the crowd slowly realised that extra time was a possibility they bayed for relief, in whatever form, as the steam increased from sodden bodies and thoughts of home fires glowed in the collective consciousness.

Shearby received the first of Brakes' four yellow cards in the 81st, the other three coming in extra time, a tally surely matched or exceeded by Massey though I wasn't counting theirs. There was little to report in extra time, nothing at all in the first period apart from further yellows for Timms, then Hanrahan. Episcopo, who seems, physically, ideally suited for ploughing through defences and keeping his feet in these conditions, came on for the second period and started spraying balls to the forwards as Brakes found a new lease of life. But Gregory's header in the 111th minute was all they had to show until, three minutes from time in the 117th minute a Thompson corner was somehow knocked home and, though claimed by just about everybody, is now, sadly, believed to have been an Own Goal, though some might argue otherwise. But it won the game, 1-2. Fans jumped and dripped in the cold night air and Nicholls netted again in the 120th to receive a yellow card for time wasting as the whistle had just gone, technically correct I suppose but with little allowance for the reflexes of a natural striker and the worsening conditions.

Then we all went home.

Leamington: Richard Morris; Jonny Burgess; Tom Sidwell; Niels Kristensen; Andy Gregory; Barry Shearsby [Capt.]; Chris Hanrahan (Anthony Episcopo 106); David Care (Darren Timms 14); Vernor Sleem (Steve Thompson 67); Paul Nicholls; Josh Blake
Subs Not Used (3 from 5 in This Competition): Seb Rockcliff; Harj Dhesi

Team News: David Care felt ligament go stretching for a tackle, is "not a happy bunny" (unattributed quote) and could be out for some time (month?).