Captain Morgan Steers the Ship Safely Over the Causeway For Another Win

Brakes made it six wins from seven in the league so far to keep amongst the front-runners.

After a good opening spell which saw goals from Richard Adams and Leon Morgan, Causeway pinned Brakes back in the second half and a strike from Rob Marshall just over the hour made it 2-1. However, a Ryan Howell header ten minutes from time sealed victory and sent the crowd of 410 home happy.

Brakes pressed from the start playing down the slope with the wind in their faces. However, there was little goalmouth action until the 14th minute when Richard Adams ran into the penalty area and lobbed Matt Sidaway for the perfect goal, 1-0. It took only seven more minutes for the lead to be doubled, Leon Morgan rising above the defence to head home a Jon Adams corner from the right, 2-0 in the 21st.

Causeway tried to hit back, forcing six corners in quick succession within a five minute spell. But with half-time approaching, it was Brakes who came nearest to scoring as Stuart Herlihy and Richard Adams combined well, but Herlihy's shot was off target.

Early in the second period, a good move down the right ended with a Jon Adams shot across the face of the goal and, at the other end, Causeway's Chris Busby found himself unmarked in the penalty area with a clear scoring chance. The visitors piled on the pressure and duly got their reward as Rob Marshall placed his header wide of Paul Shepherd to pull a goal back in the 61st minute, 2-1.

It was almost 2-2 shortly after as a speculative shot from Aaron Drakely sailed over Shepherd onto the crossbar. However, Brakes made sure of the points in the 80th minute when Leon Morgan went on a fine solo run before passing to Paul Nicholls whose shot was blocked and Ryan Howell followed up bravely to head into the net, 3-1.

For me, Causeway were by far the best side to have come to the New Windmill for a long time and their mid-table position doesn't do them justice. They were quick in their passing and ran at Brakes for the whole 90 minutes, They will cause plenty of problems before the season is out.

Manager Jason Cadden was pleased with his side's performance, saying "It is always hard to get back to the reality of the league after a big game such as Saturday's at Kidsgrove. Causeway were a good footballing side and we had to dig in deep and work hard for each other. We have no right to win and sometimes it is necessary to grind out a result which we did tonight."

Leamington: Paul Shepherd; Kristian Kelsall (Ryan Parisi 58); Josh Blake; Darran Tank; Tom Sidwell; Andy Gregory; Stuart Herlihy (Alex Rodman 73); Leon Morgan [Capt]; Richard Adams (Paul Nicholls 70); Ryan Howell; Jon Adams
Subs Not Used: Ben Usher; Paul Eden

Causeway United: Matt Sidaway; Matt Aston; Carl Burley; Rob Marshall; Gavin Winsper; Neil Taylor; Aaron Drakely; Ian Kirkham [Capt]; Chris Busby (Adam Evans 89); Paul Henley; Danny Cox (Ben Wakeman 84)
Subs not used: Jamie Wareham; Hugh Sproston

Attendance 410