Bloxwich Blown Away At Wintry New Windmill

It's not over yet, but Brakes took a giant step towards fulfilling their title aspirations with a four goal demolition of rivals Bloxwich Town at the New Windmill last Saturday. The gap at the top of the Midland Combination Premiership is now 16 points and, whilst the chasing pack have matches in hand, Jason Cadden's men have their destiny in their own hands and remain firm favourites to clinch the title at the third time of asking.

The weather was the kind that makes an afternoon in by the fireside look an attractive proposition, but 516 hardy souls (the league's highest crowd of the season) turned up to see a sparkling display by the home team. Full marks to both sets of players for putting on such a show in the conditions that gave us all four seasons over the ninety minutes. Two goals by Richard Adams in the first half and one apiece for Josh Blake and Paul Nicholls in the second period wrapped up the points to confirm Brakes as the league's leading scorers and, with the fourth clean sheet in a row, the meanest defence.

The match sprung to life in only the third minute when Bloxwich's Ricky Barker went on a good run only to shoot wide. However, in the build up, Leon Morgan was adjudged to have held back Lee Hughes and received another booking to add to what is becoming an unenviable disciplinary record.

A hail storm then descended on the ground sending most of the spectators into the Harbury Lane end stand for shelter. As a result, they got a perfect view of Richard Adams' two goals. The first came in the 17th minute when he ran onto a Paul Nicholls pass beating central defender Richard Huckfield to put the ball under the body of 'keeper Richard Williams, 1-0. Then, in the 25th minute, he collected a long pass from Andy Gregory to round Williams for his second, 2-0.

Lee Hughes had a couple of long shots for the visitors, the second of which on 28 minutes cannoned off Chris Hanrahan for a corner that came to nothing. Bloxwich captain Cameron Morgan was booked, something that assumed greater significance when he lunged at a Brakes player in the second half to be given his marching orders. The nearest that Brakes came to letting in a goal was a shot by Lee Osborne that Richard Morris saved with his feet and they went into the interval in a commanding position.

The expected Bloxwich assault at the start of the second half did not materialise and the dismissal of Morgan seemed to disrupt what little rhythm they had to their play. After the previous week's tame draw with Pilkington XXX, this Brakes side was in no mood to let the opposition off the hook and, after several goal attempts, Josh Blake made it 3-0 in the 73rd minute, picking up a loose ball after Nicholls found himself surrounded by defenders. The fourth came from Paul Nicholls in the 85th when an indirect free-kick in the penalty area was touched back to him and he let go a screamer into the net beyond the helpless Williams, 4-0.

Richard Adams' two-gaul haul took his league tally to 27 and, with Blake moving onto 23, the Brakes attack remains the most potent in the division, having rattled up 96 in all. However, it was the defence marshalled well by skipper Darran Tank (who would have thought that a year ago?), and in which Steve Smith was outstanding, that held it all together giving the forwards the freedom to roam and score.

Manager Cadden was delighted with the result saying, "the conditions were difficult but we dug in deep and worked hard. The commitment of the whole team was first class and, unlike last week, we took the chances that we created and ran out impressive winners."

Leamington: Richard Morris; Ben Adams; Darran Tank [Capt]; Steve Smith; Andy Gregory; Leon Morgan (Jon Adams 71); Stuart Herlihy (Darren Timms 75); Chris Hanrahan; Richard Adams (Tom Sidwell 82); Paul Nicholls; Josh Blake

Bloxwich Town: Richard Williams; Mark Swan; Ricky Barker; Adam Simkiss; Richard Huckfield; Lee Osborne (Adam Wood 65); Dale Roberts (Matthew Whitehouse 75); Cameron Morgan [Capt.]; Jason Holmes (Christian Darby 41); Lee Hughes; Wayne Hughes

Team News: Steve Thompson not injured, available next week; Simon Walker and Ryan Howell back training; Leon Morgan misses next three games; Josh Blake's appeal outstanding.