Leamington 2 - 0 Oldbury
300 wordsAfter a stroll into town for lunch, enjoying the warmth and the heat, it was a disappointment for us to get to the New Windmill Ground to find it cooling down and starting to drizzle.
Still, we cheered up when Oldbury fluffed a clearance opportunity in the first five minutes, and Alex Rodman took full advantage. Not much later Rodman took a corner which was beautifully headed in by Stuart Herlighy. Martin Thompson nearly made it 3-0 with another header — it had the pace but not the accuracy.
Brakes chairman Sir Mick Brady, doing his habitual circuit of the pitch, commented that it wasn’t safe yet, and that they should “stop coasting”. Last week’s Westfields fiasco was fresh in our minds, and the song “3 - 2; we’re gonna lose 3-2″ floated through my mind. The Harbury Lane end choir had the same idea, but had the sensitivity not to actually sing it until the closing minutes of the game, and then rather coyly.
During the second half Neil Stacey and an Oldbury player both got sent off at the same time — the Oldbury player for an actual incident, and Stacey for his reaction. Later, to my great amusement, Oldbury’s manager coach was sent off — I’m not sure whether for arguing too vehemently with the ref, or for straying onto the pitch. His long walk off took him past a baying crowd packed into the dryness of the covered Harbury Lane stand. By now the rain was more downpour than drizzle. We weathered the weather in our normal West side position though. It’s handy for the burger van…
The Canal House Brakes Supporters’ club now clings to the theory that Morton Titterton is the glue that holds a successful Brakes team together. Let’s see how that theory bears out.