Leamington held to draw at Long Eaton

After a turgid first 45 minutes the game exploded into life in the second half, but ultimately a point does little to help the aspirations of either club going forward.

Brakes legends Ray Holmes and Syd Hall bagged goals on Long Eaton’s home turf in days gone by, but tonight it was turn of present day goal machine Cally Stewart to try and bag the goals that would see Leamington back into the play off places, and it was the young striker who fearlessly bagged the late penalty to earn his side a share of the spoils.

This could have been billed as the battle of two much travelled former Football League strikers with several hundred professional appearances between them, as Nathan Tyson and Tyrone Barnett lined up against each other.

The opening twenty minutes or so were non eventful, with both teams exchanging possession frequently without troubling either goalkeeper. Stewart saw a shot blocked at source, while Ewan Williams fired one high over the crossbar.

The lively hosts engineered their first sight of goal when Riece Bertram pounced on a loose ball just outside the box, feeding Jack Rogers, whose fierce strike was well blocked by Josh Quaynor.

Despite sitting some 15 points from safety, Long Eaton were clearly up for the scrap, snapping into challenges and giving Leamington very little time to settle on the ball.

Henry Landers gave hope of a brighter second 45 minutes a few seconds in when his driving run down the right led to a low cross which unfortunately bisected three of his team mates rushing in on the far side.

Skipper Adam Walker, making his 100th appearance in Gold and Black, saw his effort headed off the line by Callum Cocks.

Three minutes in and the powerful start paid dividends. Dan Meredith took on his man on the right edge of the penalty area and his low driven cross was tucked home neatly by Barnett at the far post.

The lead lasted all of five minutes; Hanson bravely heading home a right wing cross to bring the hosts level.

Stewart came inches from heading Leamington back in front with a looping effort from a cross, but Brakes were struggling to deal with the pace and direct running of the Long Eaton attack, and as Rogers powered through the middle his powerful low drive was parried by Hawkins, but struck the post, and ran loose for Kanga to drive into an empty net from little more than a yard out to complete the turnaround.

The second half was providing everything that the first had not, but Brakes had been struggling to get a foothold in the game since the equaliser, and despite the introductions of Joe Clarke and Jiah Medrano they were running out of time to turn this game around.

But Salvation appeared on the horizon with two minutes of normal time remaining, when Quaynor was sent tumbling inside the box, and Stewart stepped up to banish the memory of his miss in the previous game, sending Durrant the wrong way from 12 yards before collecting the ball and hurrying back to his own half to restart the game.