League & Cup Results 2002/03
home -> leamington fc era -> results 2002/03 -> match report
Leamington 2 Pershore Town 0  - 20/08/02 - Midland Combination Premier Division Taken from the Leamington Courier Online

Leamington 2 Pershore Town 0 Leamington's deadly strike force of Josh Blake and Paul Nicholls struck again on Tuesday evening to finally despatch a stubborn Pershore under the New Windmill lights. Watched by a crowd of 413, Brakes produced an action-packed display that deserved more than the two goals that came their way late in the match. Only an inspired performance from visiting goalkeeper Myles Day and some strong and, at times, uncompromising tackling prevented the home side from running out even more impressive winners . Ben Adams and Chris Hammond, who impressed when coming on as substitutes in the opening match, were included from the start. They replaced Jonny Burgess, who was on the bench, and Baz Shearsby who is was still suffering from the ankle injury picked up against Meir KA. Nicholls was involved in all the early action and nearly scored with an overhead kick in the 12th minute. Not to be outdone, Blake ran clean through nine minutes later only to see his shot well saved.   At the other end, Brakes' keeper Richard Morris was hardly needed and did not make his first serious save until six minutes before half-time. However, despite all this pressure, Pershore held out to go into the interval level-pegging. Brakes finally broke the deadlock on 77 minutes when a Nicholls header came back off the bar into Blake's' path for the first goal. Only more fine saves from Day prevented Webb and then Hammond scoring in the closing minutes. Then, right on full-time, a Hammond corner was met by Nicholls, whose header beat the goalkeeper to maintain Leamington's perfect start to the new season. Co-manager Jason Cadden was delighted with the result, saying: "It was an outstanding performance by all the lads who battled throughout the match. "The back three were superb in helping to keep a clean sheet and we are hoping to carry on the good work in our next match."