Day of history at the New Windmill Ground

Brilliant Brakes turned on the style to reach the quarter finals of the FA Carlsberg Vase in front of a record crowd at the New Windmill on Saturday.

After a week of indifferent weather, the rains stayed away and the pitch was in remarkably good condition, a testament to the work of the Brakes grounds team.

Whilst many will have gone home with happy memories after seeing Brakes hit five past their Nottinghamshire visitors, it was a particularly significant day for Josh Blake as he notched up his 300th competitive appearance, having scored the very first goal at the New Windmill Ground when the club was relaunched on 19 August 2000. Now, a ground record crowd of 1,380 saw Blake and his team mates reach the quarter finals of the Vase for the first time in the club's 116 year history and there is no telling where the momentum will carry Brakes for the rest of this season and into next.

However, it didn't look too promising in the opening twenty minutes when Retford took the game to their hosts with Michael Godber in particular causing plenty of problems. Assistant Manager, Darran Tank, had watched Retford play and noted that they had changed their usual 4-4-2 formation to play a third striker, meaning that James Husband had to stay deep to combat the threat throughout the first half.

The first real opportunity for Brakes came in the 24th minute when Ben Mackey weaved some of his magic out on the left and sent a low cross into the goalmouth which fell just behind Blake as he closed in. Then, on the half-hour, Jamie Towers made one of his trademark runs down the right and cut into the penalty area before picking out Mackey with his cross and the Brakes striker rifled his shot past Chris Kingston for the opener.

In the 35th minute, Blake looked as if he was impeded in the penalty area by Michael Simpkins, but the referee waved play on. Blake and Simpkins then debated the point rather too robustly for the referee's liking and both received a yellow card.

Only the one goal separated the two sides at the interval, but another was not long in coming for Brakes as, on 50 minutes, Mackey took advantage of a defensive slip-up and made no mistake with his 22nd strike of the season to make the scoreline 2-0.

Dave Pearson came on for the tiring and unwell Blake and immediately settled the match in the 56th minute by turning in another Towers cross after the referee had played advantage to Brakes when a foul had been committed. Towers was again the provider for the fourth, this time scored by Jon Adams who rose high above the defence to head home in the 65th. Then Pearson made it five with the deftest of touches on 75 minutes, Towers (who else?) being instrumental in this one as well.

With five minutes remaining, Pearson was the provider this time for Towers, but the Brakes wing-back shot into the side netting and was denied the goal that his performance so deserved. Oliver Chappell got a consolation goal for Retford in the 88th after a goalmouth scramble, but it was all over by then and Brakes fans were already looking forward to the quarter finals.

There were also bookings for Towers for a challenge on the goalkeeper and for Retford's Greg Wright and Peter Duffield.

As at Quorn on Tuesday, the back three of Adrian Fuller, Adam Knight and Martin Hier all put in solid performances. Ben Mackey was clinical in his finishing and, although he doesn't like the tag "super sub," Dave Person made an immediate impact when coming on as a replacement for Josh Blake.

However, for having a hand in just about all the goals and a lot of the attacking moves that Brakes made, Jamie Towers gets the accolade as Man of the Match, a choice that I think very few would disagree with. After a slow start to the season, he has won the fans over and is putting in consistently good displays that make all the difference to the way that the team performs.

Manager Jason Cadden was full of praise for his team saying "We were a bit nervous for the first twenty minutes and took time to settle down. After that, we put up a tremendous performance and am pleased to be in the last eight of the competition. I said to the players at half-time that we could go and get some more goals and, to end up with five, couldn't have asked for more"

Leamington Richard Morris; Jamie Towers; Adrian Fuller; Adam Knight; Martin Hier; Morton Titterton (Stuart Herlihy 75); Craig Dutton [Capt.]; Jon Adams; Ben Mackey (Tom Bates 68); Josh Blake (Dave Pearson 56); James Husband
Subs Not Used Andy Gregory; Jason Pearcey

Retford United Chris Kingston [Capt.]; Ryan Ford; Greg Wright; Ben Chambers; Robert Burton; Michael Simpkins (Steve Woolley 62); Peter Duffield; Oliver Chappell; Michael Godber; Mark Ashton (Mark Shaw 68); Neil Harvey (Adam Kerley 62)
Subs Not Used Daniel Lodge; Steven Wilkinson

Attendance 1,380

Author's Man of the Match Jamie Towers

Photographs from the match here»