I was not well enough to go to see Leamington's semi-final play off victory at Redditch last night, although I have every intention of making it to Hungerford Meanwhile, here is the report from the Courier: Last Gasp Brakes
Video of the penalty shootout here: Shootout
Leamington played for a draw today and a 0-0 result against Hungerford Town gave them a play off match away to Redditch United on Wednesday. The game attracted an attendance of 721, including a substantial Hungerford contingent. Even the local canine population recognised the importance of the game, with at least three turning out.
They were probably disappointed by what they saw. It was no feast of football from either side with the ball going up in the air far more than was desirable.
In the first half Hungerford's main plan seemed to be to get our players booked, something for which they apparently known. Every time there was a foul, their player writhed in agony. The referee, who was having his last game, wanted to use the stock of homilies he had stored up over his career, but eventually he gave Austin a card.
Hungerford's main danger man in the first half and throughout the game was their No.11, Garyn Preen, advertised as a 'tricky winger' in the programme.
Just before half time there was a shout for a Brakes penalty for handball in the area.
Dubidat was not very impressive up front, but Ben Mackey was not brought on until five minutes from end. The Brakes looked vulnerable at corners because they failed to provide an outlet up field and the ball came back again.
Leamington did have a few half chances in the second half, mainly through the skill of Sam Austin. He put in a great curler of a shot that was just over and later nutmegged an opposition defender with real skill. Earlier, some Brakes pressure had seen the ball cleared off the line and then a shot came in that was just over.
But I guess it's a case of job done, or not, as the case may be.
Leamington secured three important points with a 2-0 victory over Paulton Rovers at the Phillips 66 Community Stadium this afternoon. The crowd of 443 and one dog saw a rather uninspiring display by the Brakes, but we do go up to 3rd in the table, albeit Kettering have two games in hand over us. We will need to do better on Tuesday if we are to come away with anything.
An early penalty was awarded to the Brakes after the Paulton keeper (said to be 'a character on and off the pitch') came out and brought down Dubidat who had to go off injured. The referee did not show a card as the ball was going out for a goal kick, but I thought that a yellow was merited. In any event, Austin stepped and took the penalty to put Brakes 1-0 ahead. Ogleby came on to replace Dubidat.
We came close to scoring when the ball had to be cleared off the line twice, but the score remained at 1-0 at half time.
In the second half our play often seemed to be disjointed and we surrendered possession too easily. It wouldn't have been easy to work out which was the bottom team. Leamington did get the ball in the net after a nice move, but it was offside.
The sub was subbed and Ben Mackey came on. I wasn't sure why he didn't start. In any event he made it 2-0 on 88 minutes with a header from a corner.
A very evocative blog article about Leamington in the FA Cup: The Magic of the Cup
