Cup campaign gets off to a good start

On a blustery afternoon at the New Windmill, Brakes eased comfortably into the First Qualifying round of the FA Cup beating a young Dominoes side and picking up a handy £1,000 prize in the process.

With the wind at their backs, Brakes had most of the play in the first half, but looked destined to go into the interval with nothing to show for their efforts. But for an agile save from Richard Morris to deny Andrew Matthews on 11 minutes and the crossbar keeping out Wayne Teague's effort in the 27th, they could easily have gone behind. However, two goals in the last four minutes from Josh Blake and Dave Pearson gave them a half-time cushion which calmed the nerves and set up what was, in the end, a wide margin of victory.

The industrious Stuart Herlihy could have opened the scoring in the sixth minute, latching on to a Jamie Tower's corner from the right, but his shot rose over the crossbar into the North Bank. Jon Adams also came close with his shot hitting the outside of the post and 'keeper Ashley Picking got down well to save from Dave Pearson on 25 minutes.

Herlihy went closest to opening the scoring for Brakes when rising to meet a Josh Blake corner in the 37th minute, but his goal-bound header was cleared off the line by Lee Brough. Then an Adam Knight shot was scrambled clear off the foot of Picking and Knight went close again four minutes later after Stone failed to clear another Towers corner.

Just when it looked like stalemate for the first half, Josh Blake latched onto Knight's pass in the 41st minute to open the scoring and Dave Pearson doubled the advantage in the 45th, picking up on a Towers' cross and slotting the ball under the 'keeper's body for the last kick of the period.

Brakes dominated the second half, using the wind to hold up the ball going down the slope. Ben Mackey picked up a Blake pass in the 53rd minute and, after shrugging off a Stone defender, calmly put the ball into the corner to make it 3-0. Jon Adams came close to adding a fourth, but Picking saved well. However, another goal was not long in coming as Ben Mackey collected Towers' cross from the right on 62 minutes and rifled his shot past Picking.

Probably the best move of the match came in the 76th minute when a move involving Blake, Herlihy and Adams ended with Pearson's shot hitting the crossbar. This could have been the signal to ease up, but, unlike in one or two performances this season, Brakes did not take their foot off the pedal and Dave Pearson scored his second on 79 minutes following good work by substitute Andy Gregory and Josh Blake rounded things off in the 88th after Picking had saved Pearson's shot.

For Brakes, there were any number of contenders for the Man of Match award. Tom Cudworth was again accomplished in defence, Jamie Towers set up numerous chances from the right and Josh Blake scored his 149th goal for the club. However, for me, Stuart Herlihy's running and strong tackling ensured that Brakes won the midfield and never let their opponents off the hook.

Stone are a young side, with the eldest being only 23 years old. They did not let their heads drop at any stage and skipper, Lee Brough, and Andrew Matthews put in good performances. If they can stay together, they can only improve but, with a number of players subject to formal approaches from other clubs, this looks like a hard task for the club officials who took defeat graciously and deserve some reward for their efforts.

Assistant Manager Darran Tank was pleased with the result, but described the first half performance as "a bit slack". He added "we said at half-time that we needed to increase the tempo and we did just that, running out comfortable winners in the end. Although they had a couple of chances in the first half, we defended well overall.

We held the ball up, using it to our advantage against the wind in the second half. Recently, we have been relying on defenders to score goals, so it was good to see the three forwards all get on the score-sheet with two each."

Leamington Richard Morris; Jamie Towers (Andy Gregory 74); Tom Cudworth; Adam Knight; Martin Hier; Craig Duttton [Capt.]; Stuart Herlihy; Jon Adams (Ryan Parisi 82); Dave Pearson; Ben Mackey (Martin Thompson 68); Josh Blake
Subs Not Used: Adam Cooper; Jason Pearcey

Stone Dominoes Ashley Picking; Lee Brough [Capt.]; Danny Young (Matthew Delany 62); Niall Maguire (Grant Thorley 77); Gareth Mayer; Michael Byrne; Wayne Teague; Andrew Matthews; James Sheldon; Jamie Madden; Michael Meszaros (Richard Frost 15)
Subs Not Use: Nick Taylor; Gary Wootton

Author's Man of the Match Stuart Herlihy

Attendance 527

Photographs from the match here»