Brakes Ease Through With 5-Star Display

A first half hat-trick from hot shot Paul Nicholls set Brakes on the way to a place in the last eight of the Willie Knibbs Memorial Cup. Second half goals from Josh Blake and Vernor Sleem sealed victory and set up a possible tantalising home tie with league leaders Romulus.

Prior to the match, FOLFC chair Ian Avery, presented Nicholls with his award as September Player of the Month. Who will bet against him collecting a few more before the season is out?

It took only four minutes for the ball to end up in the back of the visitors' net. A neat lob by stand-in skipper Baz Shearsby (surely the right man for the job when Tommo decides to concentrate on coaching?) found Josh Blake in the penalty area. Sphinx 'keeper Scott Furlong came out to gather, only to fumble the ball and present Paul Nicholls with the kind of chance that he relishes (1-0).

Brakes were on fire now and, two minutes later, Blake beat his marker and cut in from the left to cross to an unmarked Nicholls who again needed no second invitation (2-0). This season, Brakes' fans have enjoyed the renaissance of Blake who was the leading scorer in the comeback year of 2000/01 and he was involved in moves in the eleventh and eighteenth minutes that could have added to the score. The first of these saw a NIcholls shot come back off the crossbar and the second would have gone in had Shearsby made a clean connection.

Shearsby, again, nearly got on the score sheet on 21 minutes, picking up a long pass from the immaculate Harj Dhesi (in my view playing better than ever since joining the club) but this time Furlong pushed the shot clear of the danger zone. However, the third goal inevitably came when, on 38 minutes, Shearsby split the defence with a brilliant pass to NIcholls who slotted into the corner (3-0). This was goal number twenty-two for the season which has run less than four months and Nicholls is a joy to watch as he goes after every chance.

With just three minutes to go to half-time, referee Paul Bliss called a halt to the play. After a few minutes of guessing the reason, Director Nigel Hodgkins ran (slowly) onto the pitch with a bucket of sand to fill one of the drainage channels. Despite the recent rain, the ground remains rock hard and the sand slits are taking longer than expected to fully close over. Still, when the real wet stuff arrives, the pitch will be an absolute joy for the players and one that could again win Nigel and Idris national recognition.

The start of the second half was a testing time for Brakes as Sphinx had to make an early impression if they were to claw their way back into the match. However, there was never any danger of that and, just to make sure, on 53 minutes Blake went on a dazzling run through their defence to ram home the fourth and put the tie beyond doubt. (4-0). To wrap things up, substitute Steve Thompson threaded the ball through a packed defence in the 79th minute to Vernor Sleem who was justly rewarded for another fine performance unselfishly leading the front line (5-0).

There was an assured performance from Richard Morris in the Brakes goal with a flying save on 37 minutes the highlight. He never looked like being beaten and, with James Gettings doing the work in league matches, the club has two excellent young 'keepers to choose from. Also, the introduction of ex-youth team player Seb Rockcliff added some momentum in the closing stages and the youngster performed with confidence and a nice touch on the ball.

Three bookings for Sphinx confirmed how much they lost their way as the match unfolded. John Woodhouse (for an attempted kick at Blake), Paul John (dissent) and Mark Patterson (a foul on Sleem) all found their way into Mr Bliss's notebook.

Manager Jason Cadden had every reason to be happy after the match, saying " I couldn't have asked for more. We created a lot of chances and took five of them as well as keeping a clean sheet. The next seven days will be a testing time in the league with next Saturday's visit to Romulus a big challenge for us."

Leamington: Richard Morris; Jonny Burgess (Seb Rockcliff 74); Harj Dhesi; Niels Kristensen; Andy Gregory; Barry Shearsby [Capt.] (Steve Thompson 70); Chris Hanrahan; Darren Timms (Anthony Episcopo 66); Vernor Sleem; Paul Nicholls; Josh Blake

Team News: All the crocks at the match; Andy Biffin, David Care (5/6 weeks), Martin Thompson (3/4? weeks), James Harri (back training); Tom Sidwell is off unwell.