Delight for Holleran as Brakes claim ugly win

An ugly finish from James Husband and an ugly confrontation which saw Arlesey substitute Jason Blackett receive his marching orders were the highlights of Brakes’ return to league action at The New Windmill on Tuesday night.

A match which will not live too long in the memory did have some moments of beauty, but these were all too often provided by the visitors, whose neat build-up play was all too often accompaned by a lack of composure in front of goal.

Not that Brakes boss Paul Holleran will be complaining, with the three points combining with Saturday’s draw at Hemel to make for a solid start to the season.

And if as he believes, Arlesey are there or thereabouts when the play-off places are handed out at the end of the season, this victory augurs well for Brakes’ hopes of a top-five spot of their own.

For all Arlesey’s delicate approach work, their only clear sight of goal came in the opening 60 seconds when Chris Dillon headed wide from close range after being left unmarked at the far post.

From then on in, it was Brakes’ more direct approach which created the lion’s share of the chances, with the front two of Tom Berwick and Jacob Blyth never giving the visitors’ back four a moment’s peace.

Berwick narrowly failed to pick out his strike partner after pouncing on a mistake by Town keeper Richard Haywood before Brakes capped a frenetic opening seven minutes by scoring the only goal of the game.

The record books will show Husband as the scorer, but the left- midfielder knew little about it as a defender’s attempted clearance ricochetted off him into the back of the net from close range.

Slack defending from a corner afforded Arlesey a chance to restore parity, but with time to pick his spot, Dave Deeney sidefooted over the bar.

At the other end, Blyth was off-target after muscling his way on to a long ball from Lee Downes, while a spell of Arlesey pressure ended when Tony Breeden comfortably pouched Lee Allinson’s tame shot from distance.

Liam Daly was aggrieved to have his header chalked off on the half-hour, but the whistle had gone long before he made contact, with referee Paul Hobday spotting a foul on Hayward as the corner was played in.

A minute later, Husband was unlucky not to double his tally when his shot from the edge of the box cannonned off the bar and away to safety, with Hayward appearing to get the slightest of touches.

Brakes were again denied by the crossbar six minutes into the second half, with Blyth seeing his effort bounce down a yard from goal with the Arlesey number one well beaten.

Having started the second half impressively, Leamington’s play quickly became ragged and Richard Batchelor was the first player to enter the referee’s notebook for a crude lunge in the heart of midfield.

Arlesey substitute Jordan Browne quickly followed him into the book for leading with an elbow as the game threatened to boil over, with Leamington’s failure to retain possession further agitating the home fans in an impressive crowd of 540.

With almost half an hour to play, Holleran introduced Craig Owen and Michael Tuohy in place of the tiring Husband and Alex Taylor, which allowed Brakes to reassert their grip on the game.

But not before Joel Mason made a hash of a shot from the edge of the area after Brakes had failed to deal with a cross.

Batchelor was unlucky not to hit the target after beating Hayward to a hanging ball, while there was a further anxious moment for the keeper when Tuohy’s deflected shot almost escaped his grasp.

The tensions that had threatened to boil over resurfaced in the closing stages when Blackett saw red for throwing the ball at a Leamington player following an unsightly melee.

Though, judging by his quick retreat from the advancing Jamie Hood, he was probably glad to escape to the sanctuary of the dressing room.

Brakes almost made their numerical advantage count, with Blyth denied by a block from Hayward and Owen putting the follow-up wide.

There was also a neat late turn of pace from Holleran, who showed his flagging players how to do it by tearing down the touchline to advise his players to hold the ball up in the corner.

Brakes: Tony Breeden, James Mace, Stephan Morley, Lee Downes, Jamie Hood, Liam Daly, Alex Taylor (Michael Tuohy, 62), James Husband (Craig Owen, 62), Jacob Blyth, Tom Berwick, Richard Batchelor. Subs not used: Kyle Cartwright, Jamie Sheldon, Lee Williams.

Arlesey: Richard Hayward, Cameron Mawer, David Perpetuini, Dave Deeney, Derek Brown, James Gray, Chris Marsh, Lee Allinson, Chris Dillon (Jason Blackett, 84), Joel Mason, Liam McGovern (Jordan Browne, 57). Subs not used: Theo Swaine, Fabio Bufano, Mark Osborn.