Brakes’ Howler Makes a Point

Romulus lost their second-place spot and the chance to put themselves, potentially, one win away from heading the table when they dropped two points at the New Windmill against a battling Leamington side who matched their high-flying opponents and, at times, looked the better team.

On a freezing cold night in December 2002 Brakes recorded their lowest ever crowd at the NWG of 174, against Romulus. On that occasion Brakes came back from 1-3 down half way through the second half (by when some of the sparse crowd had left) to win 4-3. On Tuesday, another freezing night, with ice on the rails and the pitch already white before the start, an excellent crowd of 321 saw Romulus go ahead with a 3rd minute penalty, equalised by Ryan Howell in the 35th to complete the scoring leaving Romulus still to record their first win against Brakes in a league match.

Romulus got off to a dream start when an early break resulted in a defender conceding a penalty with a saving tackle in front of goal. Fagan coolly despatched the ball to Morris’s left for 0-1 in the 3rd minute. But in open play Roms offered little threat up front and Brakes had the better of the earlier exchanges with Richard Adams just wide in the 10th and Howell and Adams combining well to force a corner 10 minutes later.

Some good Brakes’ pressure, with McKay and Howell prominent, paid off when a clever pass from Herlihy found Howell who flicked the ball beautifully over the ‘keeper for 1-1 in the 35th with the linesman adjudging it to have already crossed the line after a desperate clearance by a defender. A good first half was nearly spoilt when Morris had to save from point-blank range in the 43rd when a Roms front man was left unmarked in front of goal.

Brakes looked the most likely side to win the game in the second half with Husband, in particular, in only his second start, showing that he has the speed and skill to upset the more organised defences Brakes are encountering at the MFA level. McKay responded well and could have notched his third goal in six games in the 69th. But one of the current frailties of recent weeks was again apparent in the 72nd when a Roms striker had a completely free header in front of goal. Fortunately he put it straight into Morris’s arms or we’d have been bemoaning another “soft” goal.

McKay had another goal-bound strike, this time deflected for a corner, in the 74th before giving way to Jon Adams in the 80th in the hope of finding a way through a curmudgeonly defence. But it was not to be. Romulus were clearly very pleased with their point. Brakes, with their history of beating Romulus (in the league), usually against the odds, probably less so.

But this was an entertaining game of football between two teams who have always been evenly matched in their many, league meetings, with Leamington on top in terms of results between the two and Romulus usually ahead in league position. The icy pitch became whiter as the night wore on but seemed to have little bearing on play, being hard rather than slippery and, given the depth of feeling, the game was fair and played in a good spirit. Whether or not Romulus will go up must depend more on events off the field to do with “their” ground. But they look set to do it on the pitch and maybe it will be another season before we meet again at the NWG though at a higher level. The return at their place is a few short weeks away on Saturday 11 February; make a point of being there.

Leamington: Richard Morris; Ryan Howell; Darran Tank (Tom Sidwell 90); Ryan Parisi; Andy Crabtree; Stuart Herlihy; Josh Blake; Leon Morgan [Capt]; Jody McKay (Jon Adams 80); Richard Adams; James Husband
Subs Not Used: Kristian Kelsall; Martin Thompson; Paul Shepherd

Romulus: Matt Harris; Richard Batchelor; Tom Wilmore; Chris Charles; Michael Batchelor; Jason Lanns; Seb Hamilton; Richard Allen (Darryl Lewin 68); Tyrone Fagan; James Knott (Terry Carpenter 85); Lee Hatfield
Subs Not Used: Andrew Warner; Liam Daly; Lei Brown

Attendance: 321

Players' News: Neil Stacey is available for selection.