I had pencilled in a date sometime in the future to look forward to seeing Leamington playing in my neck of the woods, but I hadn't anticipated it would come so soon! On making the short trip across town, I was disappointed not to find a bigger turn out of Brakes fans, but in truth the game was not advertised in the local press, so there was never likely to be a big crowd. We easily outnumbered the Boro' support, and the majority of the 40 or 50 fans who had made the trip took up residence in the Cock And Bear terrace. I met up with a Boro' supporting mate from work, and we got hold of a team sheet.

The first big surprise was that we had Atherstone's goalkeeper Dale Belford playing for us. Nobody knew if we had signed him, whether he was on loan, or whether he was just guesting for us. Our new signing, Tom Sidwell, was also playing, standing above all our players on the field. A laugh was had on looking down the Boro' team, we found a lad, simply called 'Goggs' at number two. We asked Nuneaton's assistant manager, Ron Bradbury, who he was. 'Errr, I don't know. He's probably from the youth team.', came the reply!

The match started at a fast pace, and the Boro' team started brightly, and looked like they would overrun Leamington with their quick passing and movement. After ten minutes they took the lead, Richard Leadbeatter shooting low past Belford from 22 yards.

However, the avalanche of goals did not materialise, and Leamington really got into the game and seemed to grow in confidence, taking the game to their opponents. On twenty minutes, Darren Timms received the ball inside the eighteen yard box, and lobbed a shot over the advancing Nuneaton keeper. It was at this point that we realised there were some other people inside the ground! Brakes really were playing well at this point, with some of the best football I have seen them play this season.

Thommo cracked in a shot from the left edge of the area which the keeper covered, and on thirty minutes he was lucky not to be dismissed, as he came out of his area and clattered into Paul Eden as he advanced towards goal. However, Harj Dhesi provided suitable punishment for the crime, as he bent a beautiful free kick around the wall and into the top corner, a goal fit to win any game. David Beckham would have been proud!

The second half was very disjointed, with a lot of changes being made on both sides. Indeed, players from both teams went off at the interval and rejoined the game later on! The flow of the game was disrupted, but Leamington stuck to their task, snuffing out any threat from Boro's forwards. When they did get through, close to full time, the attacker hit the roof of the terrace behind the goal when it looked easier to score.

Glenn Webb had a good opportunity to make it three early in the half, but the keeper saved well. There were no bookings in a clean game, and the few free kicks that were given were awarded to Leamington - made a change from the league! Brakes really should have had a third when Boro's keeper came dashing from his goal again, missed the ball, and Timms somehow put it wide of the far post with the open goal gaping.

All in all, a very satisfactory result for Leamington, far more comfortable than expected. Although Nuneaton only fielded three fringe first team players, and the rest were youth team or trialists, you would still have really expected them to have won the game. Roll on the next leg, and the big switching on!