An old football saying is that the winner of Manager of the Month usually suffers a setback the next game. Unfortunately, Brakes suffered just that when they went to South Shields for the first time following Paul Holleran’s September victory. Leamington participated in a thrilling and interesting match, but were hindered by a red card in the second half and were unable to generate enough offensive opportunities to pose a threat to the goal of the hosts.
Jack Edwards was ruled out, thus Will Shorrock returned to the starting lineup and Theo Streete took Rob Evans’ position in centre defence. Jiah Medrano, who had been on dual registration at Barwell, was also back in the matchday squad.
Three quarters of the spectacular 1st Cloud Arena was drenched in bright sunshine on an unusually warm October afternoon, and the home fans were in a rowdy mood from the first whistle.
The hosts got off to a fast start as they attempted to bounce back from a couple of heartbreaking three-goal losses while travelling; in the first few seconds, Jid Okeke’s shot was blocked by Theo Streete. In the first few minutes, the Mariners were positioned deep in the Leamington half, and Mackenzie Healey missed the mark with a shot after he slipped.
Okeke surged through the middle and drove low towards goal, right at Callum Hawkins, who easily made the save, with the brakes barely getting a touch of the ball. The number from Leamington After a slide rule pass let Kyle Crossley in on goal, it appeared as though one might have a bigger issue on his hands. However, George Ward saved the day with a perfectly timed tackle that nicked the ball off the striker’s toes. Then, as Will Jenkins was about to pull the trigger inside the box, Adam Walker intervened to concede the first corner of the afternoon.
It took Brakes thirteen minutes to get the ball inside the home team’s penalty area, but goalie Miles Boney was there to claim it with confidence. But now Leamington were beginning to understand the game.
After giving out a free kick about 20 yards from goal, which Martin Smith used to hit the Leamington defence wall, Ewan Williams received a booking. In the centre circle, Captain Adam Walker swiftly trailed him into Referee Callum Jones’s notepad for a challenge from behind.
On minute 21, Tom Broadbent rose highest to meet a superb left wing corner kick and headed strongly into the roof of the net, giving the home team the goal that their frantic start had deserved
best attempts by Dan Meredith and Hawkins.
To their credit, Leamington’s response was strong as they countered and won the ball in midfield. Walker’s low shot was stopped by Boney at the right-hand post.
Following a challenge by Jenkins on Walker, Crossley nearly embarrassed Streete by giving him a head start on a lost ball down the left, dropped him on his rear, and then saw his shot blocked. Jenkins pricked Hawkins’ palms almost immediately with a powerful long-range shot that the custodian deftly parried.
When Leamington did manage to penetrate the hosts’ defence, it seemed as though they would be able to break through if they applied pressure, but this
were few in the first part of the game. Jenkins continued to show that South Shields was a formidable opponent, launching another warning shot high and wide.
Rob Briggs, the captain of the Shields, was the fourth player to be booked in the first half. Considering that all four were for full bloodied rather than malicious challenges, it is probable that any manager would have been especially pleased with this.
The manager has stressed many times in the past that one of the key elements to getting results is to ensure that you stay in games, and his team certainly did that in the first half, defending manfully and blocking the majority of the hosts’ efforts on goal.
There was a positive start to the second half as Brakes pressed straight from the kick off; Walker feeding Shorrock, who cut inside before driving straight at Boney. There was a clear sign in the opening minutes that the manager had given his players licence to have a real go at turning things round. With the travelling support having moved away from their noisy home counterparts to the opposite end of the ground, they cranked up the volume in support of their side.
Cally Ste
wart almost gave them reason to cheer when he clattered the crossbar with a first time strike after an exchange of passes with Henry Landers, who had been fed by Walker down the right. However, South Shields immediately broke straight up the left with Crossley, who tried to cut inside and beat Streete but was met with a firm challenge from the veteran centre back. At the opposite end Shorrock poked a shot wide of the target.
The game swung heavily in the hosts favour just before the hour mark, as Shorrock was shown a straight red card. Moments earlier the winger had gone eyeball to eyeball with Okeke on the touchline, and both players were spoken to. Seconds later Shorrock was floored by a heavy challenge, but quickly got up and launched into Okeke. There was a brief meleé before the red card was brandished. Okeke clearly felt his work was done as he shook hands with a team mate.
Hawkins held a header from Briggs from the free kick, but Leamington were still intent on getting something from the game however, and Ward headed straight at Boney from Landers’ left wing cross.
The atmosphere had certainly been cranked up a notch with all that had gone on, and the manager was the next to be shown a yellow card, presumably for saying too much to the fourth official. He had clearly seen something during the fracas involving Shorrock that he vehemently disagreed with. Shields manager Eliott Dickman was clearly of the opposite opinion, aiming some personal and unnecessary insults at his counterpart down the touchline.
Prolific frontman Paul Blackett was introduced on his return from injury to pile more pressure on Leamington as the game entered its final stages, and the hosts quickly had another opportunity to put the game to bed as Jenkins fed Blackett, but the substitute’s shot hit a team mate on its way towards goal, and went out of play.
Having thrown on Ant Lynn and Ted Rowe, Holleran rolled the dice for a final time and introduced Joe Doyle-Charles and Medrano for the closing minutes, also bringing on his fifth and final substitute Rob Evans before the 90 minutes were up.
There was an opportunity for Sam Hodgson to grab a goal when Okeke just beat Medrano to scoop the ball into the centre, but the header was straight at Hawkins.
There were five additional minutes at the end of the game for Leamington to try and salvage something, but despite battling and scrapping throughout it was ultimately their play in the final third that was lacking, and they slipped to a third league reverse of the season, all by a single goal.
