Battling Brakes denied Roms win

The dismissal of captain Leon Morgan two minutes before half-time left Brakes with a mountain to climb against second-placed Romulus. For most of the second half they took the game to their hosts and looked to have sealed an unlikely victory until the Roms produced an equaliser in the 77th minute.

Both Jody McKay and Stuart Herlihy were missing with bouts of flu, so Ryan Howell moved back into the attack and James Husband came into the left-side front position.

Romulus immediately went into the offensive and Seb Hamilton sent in a testing low cross from the right which caused confusion in the Brakes' defence and brought the first of two appeals for handball. It was an even closer shave on four minutes as Lei Brown cut in from the left and unleashed a fierce shot that came out from the underside of the crossbar.

Morgan twice brought himself to the referee's attention with fouls on Jason Lanns and, on the second occasion, the Romulus midfielder got the ball into the net, only for his effort to be ruled offside. Richard Allen than picked up a pass from Liam Daly, but put his shot well over the bar form close range.

Brakes struck back with Morgan putting through a superb pass to Howell, who overran the ball for a goal kick. However, Brakes did find the net in the 18th minute when James Husband  brought the ball down and cracked a superb shot to give home 'keeper Matt Harris no chance and open his account for the club (0-1).

It was all Brakes now and the Romulus defence, which is the second meanest in the league, was looking rattled. Morgan was being more influential than in recent outings and Howell was bustling up front, forcing Harris into a good save on 26 minutes. Just to show that nothing could be taken for granted, Hamilton made a threatening run down the right for the Roms and it took a timely tackle by Darran Tank to save the day.

Daly then nearly turned a Josh Blake free-kick into his own net before the crossbar again came to Brakes' rescue, this time to deny Tyrone Fagan. On 40 minutes, the second handball appeal came as Ryan Parisi cleared, but things didn't go Brakes' way three minutes later when Morgan was adjudged to have committed a foul in the penalty area. The Brakes midfielder than pointed out to the referee the error of his ways, but was dismissed for his trouble. Up stepped Tyrone Fagan to put the penalty away and level the score on 44 minutes. The half-time whistle came with the scoreline still at 1-1.

With a numerical advantage, Roms attacked from the re-start and several shots cannoned off Brakes defenders. A Blake attempt looked goalbound until hitting Howell and, back at the other end, Richard Morris got down well to cut out another cross from the dangerous Hamilton.

Despite being a man short, it was Brakes who were making the running now and James Husband got his second on 68 minutes, coming in from the left and firing another unstoppable shot into the far corner.

Roms made two substitutions and it was from one of the new players that the equaliser came in the 77th minute. The Brakes defence failed to clear and James Knott pounced to send the ball through a crowd of players past Morris to make it 2-2. Roms could have sealed victory on 81 minutes when Lanns sneaked in behind the defence, only to out the ball wide. On another front, Lanns can count himself lucky, having been given a more sympathetic hearing by the referee than afforded to Morgan when expressing a view on the match.

This was an afternoon for the whole team but, if I was to pick out two players, it would be the two Ryans. Without Morgan, the Brakes front-runners had to give even more than usual and Howell was everywhere, chasing and forcing errors from the Roms defence. At the back, Parisi also ran himself to a standstill and, with the experienced Tank alongside, has improved match after match this season.

For the record, there were bookings for Morton Titterton and Jon Adams, but none for the Roms. Those Brakes fans who made up the majority of the crowd of 215 will have their own view on the referee's consistency (or lack of it). Full marks to the travelling fans who gave the team high-volume backing throughout and a richly-deserved ovation at the end.

Manager Jason Cadden was understandably proud of his battling players, saying "We have come away and performed well against the league's second highest side. Leon was having his best game for weeks and the penalty decision was harsh. I said to the players at half-time that we should be positive and go back out as if we still had eleven men on the field. The second half workrate was tremendous and I hope that we can kick-on from here and put a run together."

Romulus Matt Harris [Capt.]; Chris Charles; Tom Wilmore (Lee Hatfield 69); Liam Daly; Michael Batchelor; Jason Lanns; Seb Hamilton (James Knott 75); Richard Allen; Tyrone Fagan; Matty Robinson; Lei Brown
Subs Not Used: Andrew Warner; Jimmy Stafford; Terry Carpenter

Leamington Richard Morris; Jon Adams; Darran Tank; Ryan Parisi (Neil Stacey 82); Andy Crabtree; Morton Titterton; Josh Blake; Leon Morgan [Capt.]; Ryan Howell (Martin Thompson 78); Richard Adams; James Husband
Subs Not Used: Dave Care; Jamie Coleman; Paul Shepherd

Attendance: 215