Excellent win for Brakes

Leamington secured a 2-1 win on the edge of the known universe when they beat Hereford 2-1 this afternoon. There were some boos from home fans and no doubt they will be looking for a refund.

It was an even better result when one considers that there were three changes for Brakes as Joe Clarke, Jordan Murphy and Kaiman Anderson come in for the recalled George Carline, Callum Gittings who is unavailable and Josh March who is struggling with a hamstring issue. Connor Taylor returned to the bench after recovering from illness.

On 18 minutes Dexter Walters' left wing corner sailed past everybody and nestled in the far corner of the net to make it 1-0 Leamington. Hereford equalised on 34 minutes trough their Notts Forest loan player.

On 47 minutes there was great work from Maycock to feed Walters, who twisted and turned before slipping in Anderson, who momentarily looked to have missed his chance but then rams a shot into the roof of the net!

Congratulations to the 65 Brakes fans who made the journey. The train connections are not good, nor are the roads.

Not a happy bunny

It's not just Jurgen Klopp who is complaining about fixture congestion. Paul Holleran has told the Leamington Courier 'We've got games on the 21st, 26th, 28th and 1st. I don't think the 28th should have been there, especially with the pitches being so heavy this time of year.'

Holleran also complained about the Throstle Nest pitch and the infrastructure at Farsley Celtic. He was unblocking the toilet with a mop at 2 pm.

He was also aggrieved about a penalty awarded to the home side: 'The referee is a good age and so far away from play.' Holleran is pretty free with his advice to referees, ranging from indignant shouts of 'referee', to more vigorously expressed sentiments.

Not all referees accept Paul Holleran's advice

To be fair, he has been in the job over ten years and has an unrivalled contacts book, conjuring up promising players from Football League academies. Judging by the picture of his well stocked fridge he put on Twitter, he had a good party on Christmas Eve. The 3-0 win over Gloucester City on Boxing Day should have cheered him up as well.

Good win for Brakes

Leamington had an excellent 3-0 win over Gloucester City on a cold and raw December day at the Phillips 66 Community Stadium. Leamington are 14th in the table behind Kidderminster and AFC Telford on goal difference.

It was a slow start in terms of chances with neither side creating much, although Brakes did more of the attacking. They gradually got on top. It was a case of one shot, one goal with Jack Edwards set up perfectly by March to slam a first time shot into the net. This was followed up by Josh March put the ball into the net to make it 2-0 at half time.

Just before the break there was great play from Maycock as he set off on a driving run from the right and exchanged passes with Edwards before bludgeoning his way into the box. However, with Maher to beat he blazed well over, pummelling the pitch in frustration. The Sky Blues youngster had a good game, nevertheless.

Substitute Kieran Dunbar came on at 87 minutes and scored with practically his first touch, a great back heel from George Carline played him in and he stabbed the ball past Maher into the far corner.

Attendance was 535, too cold for dogs.

Bishop's move

Today's Football League Paper includes a feature on Colby Bishop on the second page. It says that 'Bishop has been a shining light in a mixed season for Stanley so far' [it's wonder they didn't mention Bishops Rock lighthouse].

The article goes on to talk about the 29 goals he scored for the Brakes. Working as a PE teacher, 'Days at the school were followed by time in the gym as he aimed to regain full fitness.' Bishop said, 'I always worked hard behind the scenes.'

Bishop said that he still speaks to a couple of teachers from the school and the head messages him from time to time. He hopes to be able to go back to see all the kids there.

Leamington is getting a reputation as a club that selects promising players and develops them.'

Bishop praised

It's not often you hear the Brakes mentioned on the Football League Show but that's what happened this evening when it was pointed out that Colby Bishop had played for 'sixth tier' Leamington on the Accrington commentary. His non-league pedigree was mentioned again in the round up by the presenters when reference was made to the fact that he had worked in a primary school.

Bishop has scored a brace in three of his last four matches for Accrington.

I'll settle for a point

Leamington drew 2-2 with Spennymoor Town at the Phillips 66 this afternoon leaving them 15th in the table on the same number of points as next week's cup opponents AFC Telford.

I'll settle for a point. For much of the game we were outpaced by the visitors who were very fast, particularly on the counter attack. Our second ball was often poor.

The double headed coin did its work when Brakes lost the toss and had to change ends. There were shouts of 'We're doomed'. However, a fast attack down the left enabled Kaiman Anderson to score in the first minute.

Spennymoor soon replied with a scorcher to make it 1-1 within the quarter hour. Before the half hour mark they had scored another excellent goal.

In the second half poor defending gave Spennymoor the chance to put the game beyond doubt with a penalty but it was blasted over. Brakes then had their own penalty, confidently dispatched by Josh March. He then put in a great strike from distance which hit the crossbar. What a goal that would have been.

Dexter Walters did not match his performance on Tuesday and was replaced in a double substitution which also featured the disappointing Callum Maycock. New signing Josh Martin did not get off the bench.

Once again the attendance was not announced.

Sparking performance by Brakes

It was a cold night at the Phillips 66, but Leamington put in a sparking performance against Darlington to win 3-0. Brakes moved to 15th in the table and only three points off 9th place.

Darlington were late arriving after traffic problems, but came with a substantial body of support for a Tuesday evening in winter. They did provide some early pressure, but Jack Edwards opened the scoring with a header. He had thought he had got a second, but was ruled offside. He was only marginally so and there were calls for VAR.

From a corner, the ball bounced off the crossbar. For a moment it was uncertain whether it was a goal, but the lino ruled that James Mace had scored to give Brakes a 2-0 half time lead.

That was what we had on Saturday, but this time the only card shown was a yellow to a Darlington player. Carline scored his first goal for the Brakes to make it 3-0.

Although Darlington were capable of some fluent passing, Weaver was never really tested during the game.