Neighbours Leamington and Racing Club Warwick progress after FA Cup victories
Southern League Premier Central neighbours Leamington and Racing Club Warwick both made the hat for this week's FA Cup Second Qualifying Round draw.
The Brakes ended five years of FA Cup pain on Saturday with a 3-1 home win over Ilkeston Town to land a home tie with Northern Premier League side Gainsborough Trinity on the weekend of Saturday, 19th September.
Meanwhile, the Racers romped to a 5-1 away win at Lye Town, and their prize was a trip to high-flying Southern League Premier Central rivals Alvechurch.
Joint Racers boss Jack Edwards said his side had been more attacking against lower league opposition.
“We've not been free-flowing in the league,” he said.
“Having just been promoted we wanted to be pragmatic in our approach and get lads used to the level and build a squad ready to push up the league.
“So we have been fairly happy with our start in the league and we've made a couple of creative, threatening signings.
“But playing cup games against lower league opposition you have to change tack, be more creative, and show you are the higher team, which is what we did on Saturday.
“Hopefully we will now take more of that into our league form.”
On drawing Alvechurch, he added: “I think some people will be frustrated with that draw. It is a difficult place to go these days.
“But I look at it as an opportunity to set the record straight in some respects, having recently been beaten by them.
“I think we are already a different and better team since then and it will be good to pit our wits against them and see how far we have come in a very short space of time.
“Hopefully we will give them a better game than when we lost 2-0 to them a couple of weeks ago.”
On their cup win, Leamington first team coach Callum Ingram said: “We changed shape from the last game and it just gave us a bit more width and a bit more support for Chris and Louis in the top third.
“It allowed us to sustain a bit more pressure in the game and hopefully the fans are seeing more chances being created in the top third – and we signed it off with three goals today.
“When we scored our first goal we had loads of momentum, but when we scored our second we dropped off a little bit and let them back into the game.
“Credit to Ilkeston, they knocked on the door.
“Their goal came from a soft free kick on the halfway line and we didn't set early enough.
“They played a decent ball into the box and we got punished.
“Credit to the boys – at half-time they regrouped and I felt like we shifted that momentum again in the second half.
“Having back to back wins is massive for us – the lads are buzzing.
“That winning feeling breeds into the next one.
“We are looking forward to Saturday and hopefully we can sign it off with another three points.”
On Saturday, Leamington have a league game at Bishop's Stortford while Racers host Anstey Nomads.
Racing Club boosted their squad last week with the signing of forward Rhys Hilton – and he netted twice on debut in Saturday's cup win.
The former Birmingham City academy player has arrived from Step 2 side AFC Telford United, who he joined in 2024, having been on the club’s radar for some time after scoring twice for Sutton Coldfield Town against the Bucks in a pre-season friendly 12 months earlier.
Hilton went on to enjoy Southern Central Premier play-off success with the Bucks, playing a key role in securing their return to step two of the non-league pyramid.
“He is a good lad and has a really good pedigree, said Edwards.
“He fitted straight into the group from training with us last week.
“He has a low centre of gravity, a real ability on the ball and a hell of a left foot.”