Sat, 19 Apr 2008 @ The New Windmill Ground. vs Aylesbury United (2-0). British Gas Business Football League Midlands Division. By D Hucker. Brakes beat a strong Aylesbury United side 2-0 in front of a crowd of 730 at the New Windmill but,in the end, it was all in vain as Evesham got the points they needed to wrap up the championship with one match of the season remaining.
Both sides cancelled eachother out in a scoreless first half, although Ryan Parisi could have given Brakes the lead on 13 minutes, but shot over the bar after good work by Ben Mackey and on-loan Justin Marsden.
Richard Morris had to be at his sharpest to deny Aylesbury's Kevin Mealor, first with a finger-tip save on 24 minutes and then getting down well to save again in the 36th.
Aylesbury had a couple of chances at the start of the second half, with first Nathan Graham blasting over the bar and then James Faulkner sending the ball across the face of the goal, but nobody was on hand to take advantage.
The match came alive on 73 minutes when Ben Mackey beat the off-side trap and rifled the ball past Tom Vincent for his 21st league goal of the season. Brakes almost doubled their lead after Morris sent a long kick down field and Mackey fed the ball out to Ryan Parisi who cut inside, only to see his goalbound shot tipped onto the bar by Vincent.
However, the Brakes pressure paid off and they got a second on 83 minutes, as Vincent dropped the ball from a Marcus Jackson free-kick and Scott Hadland was on hand to open his account for the club.
Manager, Jason Cadden, said "It's been a superb season and we are delighted to finish second. We have one more match to go and then can look forward to the play-offs. It looked like an end of season game when we would have to settle for a point, but we always looked capable of nicking a goal and took our chances when they came."
It has been a long journey from the depths of despair when we left the Windmill Ground in April 1988 to reaching the Southern League Midlands Division play-offs. We have accumulated 86 points from 39 matches, which is ten more than Bromsgrove Rovers achieved in finishing second last year from 42 matches played.
Whatever the outcome at the end of the season, everyone who has been involved in the Brakes revlval can be proud of what we have achieved. Whilst we face the lottery of the play-offs, starting on Tuesday 29 April, we do so at home on the pitch that Nigel and Idris devote so much time to and in front of the best supporters in the Division. Make a date and be there to cheer the Brakes on.
Brakes Richard Morris, Jamie Towers (Craig Dutton 86), Arron Parkinson [Capt.], Martin Hier, Guy Sanders, Marcus Jackson, Scott Hadland, James Husband (Liam Reynolds 69), Scott Marsden (Shay Morgan 59), Ben Mackey, Ryan Parisi.
Subs Not Used: Morton Titterton, Andy Harper
Aylesbury United Tom Vincent, Chris Aslett (Danny Nicholls 71), Stuart Catell (Nathan Liburd 64), Nick Leach [Capt.], Carl Kavanagh, Ben Stevens, Mark Jones, Sam Swonnell, James Faulkner, Nathan Graham (Andy Shed 79), Kevin Mealor