Team: Day; Dhesi, Gregory (Parisi), Sidwell, Adams; Ellis (Hanrahan), Mort, Timms, Burgess; Nicholls (Agar), Blake
A hard working Pershore side could not prevent Leamington taking a place in The Willie Knibbs Memorial Challenge Cup semi-finals, as the Brakes ran out 3-0 winners. Credit to Pershore who never stopped running, but they just could not handle the pace of a much more confident looking Brakes side. In front of 135, with a strong Leamington following which were very noisy and amusing, goals from Nicholls, Blake and Timms gave them lots of festive cheer going into the Christmas period.
The game took time to getting going on a very chewed up pitch, but it was the Pershore keeper, who had an excellent game throughout, who was first to be tested; once by Blake and then Timms within the first ten minutes. The breakthrough came on 15 minutes when Nicholls tapped home a Timms pass from the right wing, after a strong run. Timms was again involved in the action having a header saved, and setting up Nicholls again for two shots which were very well saved.
Nicholls and Adams both fired over, and Sidwell had a header easily saved, before the second goal. This came right on the stroke of half-time as a right wing cross found its way to Blake, who was unmarked on the other side of the box, from where he slotted confidently into the net.
Straight from the restart Nicholls had a glorious chance for number three, but fired straight down the keeper's gullet. Then Pershore almost found themselves thrown a lifeline by the Brakes as Burgess headed towards his own goal, but thankfully Day was alert and pulled off a good save. Yet the third Brakes goal was not long in coming as Timms rose at the back post to head across into the far corner - this after Nicholls did well to keep the ball in play and send in an inviting cross for the Brakes captain in the 54th minute.
The game seemed to lose momentum from here onwards, and this was reflected by Leamington using all three subs, including a début for new signing Ryan Parisi. Pershore did almost grab a consolation with their first real chance 84th minutes in, but unfortunately for them it rebounded off the post and Day dived on the ball after a scramble. There was still time for Adams to force a good save from the Pershore keeper, and for a Mort corner to hit the host's bar.
This was a much improved Brakes side from the one which I saw lose to Fernhill County Sports on the same ground. The side looks more comfortable playing 4-4-2 rather than 3-5-2. It's also a good base on which to build going into the Rugby Town game next week, and into the New Year with still the league and a cup up for grabs. Match report by Tim
NBB Man-of-the-Match: Timms
