Brakes overcome blustery conditions to see off the Ravens

On a fine, but blustery day at the New Windmill, Brakes recorded their second four goal win in a week to maintain the pressure on their title challengers

The line-up showed only two changes from Tuesday's match against Friar Lane with Craig Dutton replacing Morton Titterton and Adam Knight coming in for Andy Gregory, who had still not returned from Cheltenham races. Perhaps, Kauto Star's owner wasn't the only person to have picked up a million pounds?

In a scrappy opening fifteen minutes, there were few chances of note for either side, although James Husband with a shot that flashed across the goal and a thunderous strike from Stuart Herlihy that struck Ben Mackey a painful blow on the head gave notice of what was to come.

In a breakaway, Coalville came close when the dependable Martin Hier slipped and let in Jordan Lee, but the striker's shot hit the side netting.

As with the previous match, two goals within two minutes turned the tide in Brakes' favour. This time they were both scored by Jon Adams, the first coming on 18 minutes from a brilliant pass over the defence from Hier and the second a superb volley over 'keeper Carl Smith in the 19th. This one alone will be worth the price of the March video highlights.

Hier made a good tackle to deny Ashley Brown a scoring chance in the 24th minute, but Brakes were soon to get a third when James Husband took a cross from Jamie Towers, controlling the ball with his left foot and lashing an unstoppable shot with his right.

Mackey was not having the best of afternoons and the nearest that he came to adding to his 25 goal tally was a shot from distance that went just over the bar in the 37th minute. Jamie Towers thought he had added a fourth with a minute of the half remaining when his in-swinging corner on the left found the net, but the referee disallowed the goal, adjudging that the 'keeper had been impeded.

The second half was again pretty one-way traffic and Josh Skidmore cleared a Husband shot that looked goalbound before almost putting through his own net in another Brakes attack.

The wind played a part in Brakes fourth goal as a Martin Thompson effort was lifted high in the penalty area and fell to the feet of Jamie Towers who side stepped three tackles before planting the ball past Smith on 56 minutes.

It looked odds-on that Brakes would score a fifth, but they eased off the pedal a little and Richard Morris was forced to make two saves, firstly from Kelvin Phillips who shot weakly and then a free-kick from Martin Crowley. At the other end, Stuart Herlihy couldn't take advantage of another cross from Towers and the match came to a quiet end with the Brakes supporters content to see another three points towards that Polymac Services MFA title.

Martin Hier, Adam Cooper and Adam Knight gave very little away in defence and Towers and Husband used the width of the pitch to create chances. However, for his two goals and overall contribution, Jon Adams gets the vote as Man of the Match.

With nearest rivals, Romulus, without a match, the gap at the top widened to 16 points, but Brakes could still need to equal the record of 101 set by Stourbridge to be sure of taking top spot. That will mean winning seven of the final eleven matches, so it's not over yet by a long chalk.

Manager, Jason Cadden, said "we did everything right and scored four quality goals in difficult conditions. That's eight goals in total and none conceeded in the last two matches, but we start all over again against Studley on Tuesday."

Leamington Richard Morris; Jamie Towers; Martin Hier; Adam Knight; Adam Cooper; Craig Dutton [Capt.]; Stuart Herlihy; Jon Adams (Tom Bates 69); Ben Mackey; Martin Thompson (Avun Jephcott 72); James Husband (Tom James 64)
Subs Not Used Josh Blake; Jason Pearcey

Coalville Town Carl Smith; Scot Williams; Martin Crowley; Alvin Jarvis; Dave Tonge [Capt.]; Josh Skidmore; Ashley Brown; Jordan Lee; Kelvin Phillips; Danny Gallagher (Arron Cooper 46); Danum Russell
Subs Not Used Danny Williams; Dave Hollis

Attendance 503

Author's Man of the Match Jon Adams

Photographs from the match here»