Bank Holiday Blues at the Beehive

Disappointing as the result was to the Brakes fans who made up the majority of the crowd of 260, there was no denying that victory went to the best team on the day. Studley rode their luck, packed their defence and took their chances well to add to Brakes' misery in the league. Since the beginning of October, just seven points have been secured from eight matches with the Boxing Day win over Racing Club Warwick the only success story.

In three changes from the side that drew with Alvechurch two days before, Paul Eden replaced Ryan Howell in attack, Ben Adams came in for the unavailable Ryan Parisi in defence and Paul Shepherd took over the goalkeeper's jersey.

The first half had few incidents or goal opportunities to keep the crowd entertained, but Studley striker Andrew Johnson was in the thick of what little action there was, being booked in the 9th minute and scoring in the 15th following a slip by Kristian Kelsall on the edge of the penalty area.

Although Brakes came back into the match midway through the second half, their fate had already been sealed when Paul Shepherd upended Daniel Styles and Shane Benjamin put away the resultant penalty on 49 minutes. There was a glimmer of hope as Josh Blake finished off the best move of the match to reduce the deficit on 68 minutes, but the home defence held firm in the face of further Brakes attacks.

With Brakes pressing for an equaliser, Studley broke away on 87 minutes and Benjamin had a golden opportunity to wrap things up, just failing to convert a Johnson cross from the left. However, Johnson himself put paid to Brakes' comeback hopes right on full time, scoring from close in with a shot from the right that went low into the bottom corner of the net.

James Husband impressed when he came on, looking confident on the ball and making some good runs down the left touchline. Also, Stuart Herlihy fought throughout the 90 minutes but, overall, there were few positives to take back to Leamington.

As well as Johnson, there were bookings for Studley's Jason Dyer (for one foul too many on Jon Adams) and Benjamin. For Brakes, Darran Tank also went into the referee's notebook.

Studley Craig Johnson; Andrew Smith; Jason Dyer; Quentin Townsend [Capt.]; Kieran Cross; Daniel Styles (Jake Sammons 78); Simon Fitter; Robert Ager; Andrew Johnson; Shane Benjamin; Junior Hewitt
Subs Not Used: Trevor Whittington; Joe Clarke; David Wilson; Warren Givans

Leamington Paul Shepherd; Kristian Kelsall (Ryan Howell 59); Ben Adams; Darran Tank; Neil Stacey; Stuart Herlihy; Jon Adams; Leon Morgan [Capt.]; Richard Adams; Paul Eden (James Husband 66); Josh Blake
Subs Not Used: Tom Sidwell; Jamie Coleman; Richard Morris

Attendance 260