Church bring Brakes to their knees

Brakes produced a disappointing performance at old rivals Alvechurch as they slipped out of the Birmingham Senior Cup at the first hurdle, writes Paul Edwards.

With Niall Cooper cup-tied, Paul Holleran handed a first senior start to young Aaron Gayle, the son of goalkeeping coach Mark, but he could not be held accountable for any of the goals conceded, the second of which was an absolute stunner.

The hosts have recently linked up with Birmingham City to provide a platform for some of the youngsters from their Community Development Squad to get a taste of senior football under the guidance of Blues’ under-18s boss Dean Holman.

And there were certainly some interesting players on show, with the hosts putting Leamington on the rack at times.

They looked organised in the early exchanges and took the game to their higher-ranked opponents.

The pitch at Lye Meadow has always been a great leveller, and there were a few hairy moments for both sides without any clearcut scoring chances being created.

After a shaky start, Brakes began to see more of the ball and Alex Taylor had a shot blocked after he was played into the area by Lee Moore.

The home side were then almost presented with a chance to open the scoring after a comedy of errors inside the Leamington penalty area, and it was only the intervention of James Mace that put Jazz Luckie off as he shaped to shoot from close range.

A fine crossfield pass from the same player almost set up his strike partner Omari Sterling-James but James Husband tracked back well to claim possession.

Taylor then won a chance for Leamington to go in front from the penalty spot after his weaving run was brought an abrupt end.

Tom Berwick stepped up and shot low to the goalkeeper’s right, but Liam Maher guessed correctly to push the ball aside.

The keeper then clawed Ricky Johnson’s downward header away from his goal as Leamington tried once more to find a route to goal.

Alvechurch nearly had the last word of the first half but Gayle got down well to parry a low drive.

Maher fumbled a speculative but well-struck effort from the right boot of Sam Adkins early in the second half, but it was the hosts who opened the scoring in the 59th minute, Luckie timing his run to perfection to spring the offside trap and round Gayle to score.

However, it was the second goal just two minutes later that really put the wind in Alvechurch’s sails.

There looked little danger when Sterling-James received the ball 30 yards out, but he produced a rocket of a shot which arrowed into the top corner to even draw applause from the travelling Brakes fans.

Adkins tried to match him with a similar effort from just outside the box not long afterwards, but Maher watched it all the way and produced a fine save to tip the ball over the bar.

Ryan Edmunds should, perhaps, have put the game beyond Leamington, but placed his header wide from a left-wing cross.

Berwick thought he had won a corner when his shot from Johnson’s flick-on was deflected behind, but a goal kick was awarded, and he forced another fine save from the Alvechurch keeper when his first-time looping effort was pushed over the bar.

From the resulting corner, Joe Magunda stole in unmarked to head home.

Unperturbed by this the home side simply went straight back up the other end and restored their two-goal advantage, Luckie slamming home a right-wing cross at the near post.

Maher got to a long ball forward inches ahead of Berwick, who turned well to poke another shot wide as time began to slip away for Leamington.

Another attack saw several shots blocked inside the Alvechurch penalty area, but the young home side held on and saw the game out to move deservedly through to the next round.

The closing minutes saw youth team starlet Josh Tiff make his debut for the visitors, although he was mistaken by the tannoy announcer for Richard Batchelor due to the fact that he had the incorrect number on his shirt.

Alvechurch: Liam Maher, Ryan Hatfield, Sam Lee, Liam Spink, Scott Smith, Jake Allen, Ryan Edmunds, Blake Thompson (James Cosgrave, 80), Jazz Luckie (William Calkeld, 89), Omari Sterling-James, Tristian Dunkley (Dayle Kenny, 85). Subs not used: Adam Humphries, 17 Richard Taylor.

Brakes: Aaron Gayle, James Mace, James Husband, Joe Magunda, Stephan Morley, Liam Daly, Alex Taylor (Matt Dodd, 50), Lee Moore (Josh Tiff, 87), Ricky Johnson, Tom Berwick, Sam Adkins. Subs not used: Dean Perrow, Richard Batchelor, Dan Ward.

 Leamington Vets returned to winning ways with a hard-fought 5-3 victory over Water Orton United on Sunday.

After their opening-day victory over Wychall Wanderers, the Vets had suffered three straight defeats as they struggled with a threadbare squad.

However, manager Alan Stacey had the benefit of a full compliment to choose from against Orton and was rewarded with goals from John Ingram, former Brakes skipper Mark Simmonds, Rob Morey, new signing Steve Baker and Eddie Fitzpatrick.