Sat, 12 Jan 2008 @ Walshes Meadow. vs Stourport Swifts (1-0). British Gas Business Football League Midland Division. By D Hucker. If it wasn't for the heroics of home 'keeper, Chris Jay, the winning margin would have been greater, but an own goal by Richie Colwell on 63 minutes was enough to leapfrog nearest rivals Aylesbury and Stourbridge and regain top spot.
The match only got the go-ahead in the morning, as the wet weather on Friday put paid to all but four of the fixtures. Despite the uncertainty, the crowd of 262 was the highest ever for a Swifts league match and the second highest behind Chester City in their all-time records.
Manager, Jason Cadden, made two changes from the side that had lost so narrowly at Halifax Town in midweek, with Guy Sanders returning to the defence in place of Arron Parkinson and Vijay Sidhu, the scorer of two goals against Barton Rovers the week before, joining Martin Thompson in attack.
It was Thompson who had the first clear-cut scoring opportunity when clean through on goal after three minutes, but he put his shot wide with only Jay to beat. It was Sidhu's turn on nine minutes, getting onto the end of a free-kick from Jamie Towers, but Jay turned his effort round the post.
Midway through the half, Brakes forced four consecutive corners and defender Adam Cooper tried to show the forwards the way, heading wide from Towers' inswinging kick from the left. Cooper also missed the target on 28 minutes, again heading past the post, this time from a free-kick by Towers.
Swifts made little impact with Brakes 'keeper, Richard Morris, captain for the third time this season, having virtually nothing to do in the first period. It was very much more of the same after the interval and Jay was again by far the busier of the two. So much was the Brakes domination, that Swifts did not get a shot in until the 75th minute when Duncan Willetts put his effort high and wide.
By that time, Brakes had taken the lead with the only goal of the match. Sanders sent a long clearance out of defence to Thompson on the right and his low, hard cross into the goalmouth found Richie Colwell, who turned the ball past Jay into his own net.
As Brakes continued to press, Jay had come to the edge of the penalty area to head clear of the advancing Josh Blake and denied Thompson again in the 79th minute, when the stiker looked poised to score. Jay then got down well to save a long-range effort from Craig Dutton and, as the clock ticked away, he thwarted Ben Mackey, just getting a touch to deflect the ball for a corner. Dutton headed over from yet another Towers corner, and Mackey had one more chance on goal in the 90th, but shot wide.
Swifts had a final flurry when the referee added over four minutes of stoppage time, but the Brakes defence stood firm to gain three points that maintains their momentum at the top.
The already slim squad was further depleted with Stuart Herlihy going off with a back injury and then Josh Blake, who had come on for Sidhu, himself having to be replaced only seven minutes later with a pulled hamstring which is expected to keep him out of action for six weeks.
There were bookings for Adam Cooper, Ryan Parisi and Vijay Sidhu and, for Swifts, Andy Smith and Adam Robinson also received yellow cards.
Manager Cadden said "We battled well in difficult conditions and deserved to win. We created a lot of chances and kept going despite being tired from Tuesday's trip to Halifax. It was another clean sheet and we are now unbeaten in five league matches"
Stourport Chris Jay, Andy Smith, Adam Robinson, Peter Wood, Steve Frost, Adam Blake, Richie Colwell, Craig Webb, Duncan Willetts (Ryan Broadhurst 80), Alex Lavery (Richard Burgess 69), Darren Andrews (Craig Marshall)
Subs Not Used: Craig Ladek, Chris McComisky
Brakes Richard Morris [Capt.], Jamie Towers, Guy Sanders, Adam Cooper, Martin Hier, Stuart Herlihy (Marcus Jackson 52), Craig Dutton, Ben Mackey, Martin Thompson, Vijay Sidhu (Josh Blake 61) (James Husband 68), Ryan Parisi