Brakes still seeking elusive first win of 2012

Brakes let another chance to claw their way back into the top five pass them by as they recorded a third successive draw against play-off rivals Chippenham, writes Paul Edwards.

The game was a patchy and at times ill-tempered affair, with defences well on top in the first 45 minutes, with hardly any serious shots on goal to speak of.

Referee David Avent incurred the wrath of the home support when he let a poor challenge on Alex Taylor go unpunished and then waited three minutes to halt play with the player lying motionless on the pitch.

After treatment it was clear Taylor would be unable to continue and he was replaced by Craig Owen.

The next bad challenge was penalised, however, with Chippenham’s Greg Tindle going into the notebook for a two-footed lunge on Jon Adams.

The visitors won a free-kick in a promising position, but Ross Stearn’s delivery was poor and the follow-up shot from Toby Osman even more so.

Osman was then booked for a late challenge on Richard Batchelor.

After Tindle injured himself in a coming together with Jacob Blyth, Leamington worked a throw-in from which Owen had a shot blocked and Adams blazed the loose ball over the bar.

Strong running in midfield from Batchelor got the crowd going as he won back possession and fed David Kolodynski, who tried to slip a pass through to Blyth inside the area, but the ball came back to him and his low strike was saved by Bluebirds keeper Tommy Smith.

After the break, Asa Charlton became the first Leamington player to have his name taken after a poor challenge.

Ian Herring shot through a crowd of players for the visitors, but the under-worked Nathan Vaughan got down smartly to save.

Brakes pushed forward themselves, with Michael Tuohy curling a shot wide and Adams seeing a neat volley saved at the near post by Smith.

Kolodynski tried to work himself into a shooting position after cutting into the penalty area, but he was tightly marked and the effort was blocked.

Alan Griffin was then booked for taking out Batchelor on the touchline.

Stephan Morley blasted a free-kick inches wide from a central position after Adams had been bought down and Kolodynski was desperately unlucky not to take the ball around Smith with a strong hand from the grounded goalkeeper denying him.

The visitors quickly countered and, after as shot was blocked, Vaughan got down well to save at his near post.

Ross Stearn became the next Chippenham name to go into the book before Adams saw a shot blocked after Smith failed to claim the ball as it dropped into the penalty area.

The game was getting stretched by this point, with tempers fraying on both sides.

Osman saw red after clipping Adams, a decision he was less than happy with and Luke Corbett and Ashley Williams may well have followed him to the dressing room after squaring up to each other.

Whether this was spotted by the officials is open to debate, but they were both booked.

Unfortunately, Williams appeared to want to continue the disagreement after the final whistle, and although Batchelor initially split the pair up, there were unsavoury scenes around the tunnel area as the afternoon came to a disappointing conclusion.

Brakes: Nathan Vaughan, Michael Tuohy, Stephan Morley, Lee Downes, Liam Daly, Asa Charlton, Jon Adams, Alex Taylor (Craig Owen, 26), Jacob Blyth (Luke Corbett, 80), David Kolodynski, Richard Batchelor. Subs not used: James Mace, James Robbins, James Husband.

Chippenham Town: Tommy Smith, Luke Gullick, Toby Osman, Alex Kite (Scott Lye, 21), Steve Casey, Greg Tindle (Ashley Williams, 40), Ian Herring, Ross Stearn, Dave Gilroy (Shaun Lamb, 87), Alan Griffin, James Guthrie. Subs not used: Ben Wickens, Charlie Austin.