Leamington win inaugural trophy clash at Guernsey in shoot-out

Brakes stepped out at Guernsey’s Victoria Park stadium for the start of what both clubs hope will be a long standing friendship.

The visitors marked the occasion by introducing their new home strip for its first outing.

While the Leamington squad is still very much a work in progress, Guernsey kick off their Southern Combination Premier Division campaign at home to Pagham this Saturday.

The majority of their squad has been together for a couple of seasons, and they will no doubt be hoping to banish their play-off heartache from last season and win promotion back to the Isthmian League.

By kick off a swirling wind had kicked up from the nearby coast, making the conditions slightly more testing for both sides.

Despite doing virtually all of the attacking in the opening quarter of an hour Leamington fell behind when Guernsey scored with their first effort on target of the afternoon; Callum Le Lacheur measuring his first time volley to perfection as the ball was played in from the right; the ball nestling in the back of the net off the underside of the crossbar.

Le Lacheur was now proving to be a menace every time he got on the ball, and quickly curled in another good strike that was held by Cian Tyler.

Very little was seen of Leamington as an attacking force for the 15 minutes after the goal, but they gradually began to get back into the game and Kyle Finn got another effort on target.

Guernsey almost bagged a spectacular second when Tyler’s attempted clearance held up in the wind; the ball being lofted back towards goal and landing on the roof of the net.

The challenges from both sides were starting to fly in, so it was probably just as well the half-time arrived when it did.

The hosts came out with a vastly different line up at the start of the second half, but Brakes really should have been level five minutes in.

Dennis Halliday collided with Josh Addison he attempted to clear, the ball running loose and being lofted towards goal.

It was prevented from crossing the line by a superb defensive scissor kick clearance, but only fell as far as Owen Farmer, who looked to have the simple task of running it into the net.

However, he inexplicably blasted it over the bar to hoots of derision from the home supporters.

The home side duly punished their visitors for that, and it came from a piece of brilliance from Charlton Gauvain as he took on the Leamington midfield before firing a powerful strike into the corner.

Walters then exchanged passes with Owen Farmer and fired low towards goal, but straight at the keeper.

With 18 minutes to go Brakes finally got on the scoresheet; interval sub Raj Palit dancing in from the right to lay the ball on a plate for Finn to slot home from close range.

Brakes went close again as they piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser, a defender heading away from the line before further attempts were blocked.

Tyler was forced into another save inside the final 10 minutes, play being held up for an offside decision.

Farmer then played a fantastic ball to split the Guernsey defence for Finn to run on to, but his touch was slightly ahead of him, and Addison nicked the ball off his toes. Palit then blazed another shot over the bar from a good position.

It was the midfielder who proved to be his teams’ salvation however, as he dispatched a 95th minute free kick won out wide on the left by Farmer over the head of Addision into the far corner with practically the final kick of the game, meaning that the destination of the Trophy would be decided by penalty kicks.

Addison saved Finn's first penalty but Tyrese Kelly pulled his spot kick wide as the 4-4 shoot-out score took it into sudden death which Leamington won 8-7, Palit scoring the eighth and then Solway seeing Tyler push his kick onto the angle and the ball deemed not to have dropped fully over the line.

Leamington now host Yate Town on Saturday in their final friendly before the new season kicks off.