Sidaway rallies to the cause, but Brakes runout comfortable winners

 Brakes found it tough going against a stubborn Causeway side until an own goal five minutes before half-time turned the match their way. Two further strikes by the Adams brothers either side of the interval sealed a three goal victory which, but for the heroics of home 'keeper Matt Sidaway, could easily have been doubled.

In fact, Sidaway was late arriving at the ground, necessitating Gavin Winspur having to don the green jersey. However, after nine minutes, his arrival led to Coco Bosanga becoming one of the earliest substituted players of the season, as Winspur resumed his outfield role with Sidaway going between the sticks.

Once all the confusion had been cleared up, the match itself resumed in the same scrappy fashion that it had started. Brakes did get the ball into the net on 17 minutes when Morgan headed on a free kick to Blake who, in turn headed back across the penalty area to Jon Adams who struck home. However, his effort was adjudged to be offside. Causeway's attacks mainly consisted of long-range shots off-target, although it took a reaction fingertip save from Richard Morris to deny Neil Taylor in the 27th minute.

Matt Hollis was booked for a foul on Richard Adams on 33 minutes and, almost immediately, the Brakes striker was subjected to further rough treatment by Liam Teraud, who escaped censure by the referee.

The match turned in the 40th minute, when a cross from Jon Adams was deflected into his own net by Danny Cox, the ball creeping almost in slow motion into the corner beyond the dispairing Sidway (0-1). There was hardly time to draw breath when, in the next Brakes' attack, Sidaway pulled off a fine double-save only to see the ball run loose to Jon Adams who calmly slotted into the far corner to make it 0-2 in the 43rd minute.

Any hopes that Causeway had of coming back were well and truly buried within three minutes of the restart. Morton Titterton fed Richard Adams down the right and his pace carried him into the penalty area before blasting the ball past Sidaway (0-3).

Richard Adams could have got another when set up by Jody McKay, but Sidaway blocked his effort on 64 minutes. Danny Cox was booked for dissent to complete a miserable afternoon for the Causeway player before Brakes welcomed back Dave Care, coming on in place of Leon Morgan. Care showed all his old pace and appetite for going forward, but was denied a dream start on 77 minutes by another Sidaway stop after being put through by Richard Adams.

McKay sent a shot into Sidaway's legs, before the 'keeper first denied Blake and then Ryan Howell to keep the scoreline down. There was a booking for Richard Adams for a mis-timed tackle.

The record Causeway crowd of 160 will, hopefully, have provided some compensation for the home officials, who made such a favourable impression for their hospitality and friendliness.

Manager Jason Cadden was satisfied with the result, saying "It was good to bounce back after the defeat against Chasetown, but we have to follow it up with another win against Cradley on Tuesday. We dug in for the first 30 minutes and waited for the chance to come. It was nice to get some luck for a change with the own goal and then double the lead quickly just before half-time. The third goal killed the game off and, in the end, it was a solid performance."

Causeway United Gavin Winspur; Liam Teraud; Ian Kirkham [Capt.]; Matt Hollis; Coco Bosanga (Matt Sidaway 9); Neil Taylor; Danny Cox; Ben Wakeman; Andy Jones; Chris Busby (Matt Westwood 64); Jamie Rose
Subs Not Use: Lee Bellingham; Carl Burley; Russell Broom

Leamington Richard Morris; Jon Adams; Darran Tank; Ryan Parisi; Andy Crabtree (Neill Stacey 46); Morton Titterton; Stuart Herlihy; Leon Morgan [Capt.] (Dave Care 73); Richard Adams; Jody McKay (Ryan Howell 80); Josh Blake
Subs Not Used: James Husband; Paul Shepherd

Attendance: 160