Brakes Stumble at Studley After Early Lead

A crowd of 140 basked in the sunshine at the Beehive, Studley's picturesque ground at the edge of the town, to see if Leamington could put the record straight after last season's narrow defeat in the FA Vase.

The visitors looked sharp right from the kick-off and the returning Stuart Herlihy capitalised on defensive indecision to strike from the edge of the penalty area and shoot Brakes into a second minute lead (0-1). In the fourth minute, a long clearance from Brakes 'keeper Richard Morris was headed on by Herlihy to Leon Morgan whose shot was well saved. Lee Lavery should, by his own admission have made more of the chance created by Morgan on 14 minutes but, overall, this was beginning to look like the side that Brakes fans are hoping will lift the Midland Combination championship this time around.

Studley started to claw their way back into the match and on 19 minutes Craig Pountney, who was the club's leading scorer in 2002/03, sent a looping header over Morris into the roof of the net (1-1). It should have been two for the home side in the thirty-fifth minute, but Simon Walker was on hand to head over his own bar to clear the danger. Then Morris made two point-blank saves to deny Studley again and the interval came with the home side in the ascendancy.

The first of a number of substitutions saw Richard Adams replace Jonny Burgess at the start of the second half. This did not stop Studley as Pountney deceived Morris with a shot from the right on 48 minutes to give them the lead (2-1). Pountney should have completed his hat-trick two minutes later when he sprang the offside trap only to delay and give Morris time to smother the ball.

Mark Delaney, who came on for Lee McBain, was doing good work down the right and he forced a corner on 73 minutes which unfortunately came to nothing. However, the attacks were becoming less frequent with Delaney and Vernor Sleem (who had replaced Lavery) often the only two in Studley's half. Youth team 'keeper Richard Morgan came on for the last twelve minutes and picked the ball out of the net twice as goals from Jamie Hands on 85 minutes and Scott Walsh with a minute to go sealed it for Studley at 4-1.

The starting line up was probably the one that manager Jason Cadden will opt for in the opening match at Meir KA. It is packed with experience and he is unlikely to take risks early on with so much at stake. However, some of the players on the field today looked unable to match the speed at which the younger Studley side played the ball around in the second half. Experience is needed in any side, but new, younger faces are called for if Brakes are to maintain their progress and secure a Midland Alliance place.

Leamington: Richard Morris (Richard Morgan 78); Jonny Burgess (Richard Adams 46); Ben Adams; Simon Walker; Darran Tank; Stuart Herlihy (Darren Timms 55); Lee McBain (Mark Delaney 60); Josh Blake (Baz Shearsby 55); Leon Morgan; Lee Lavery (Vernor Sleem 60); Steve Thompson [Capt]

Other Team News (by Roger Vincent): Tom Friend, Chris Hanrahan, Glen Webb and Phil Daly had a run out for Daventry Town who were short of players and did well in defeating Southam United, Friend scoring; Steve Smith looks like being sidelined for at least 4 weeks and will miss early league games through injury along with Niels Kristensen and Martin Thompson; Baz Shearsby will miss several (4?) games for a much nicer reason - he's getting married on the 21st!