Substitutes saved our season says Holleran

Brakes faced the prospect of trailing Andy Leese’s side by three points going into the final three game of the season, and with a vastly inferior goal difference, after a manic ten-minute spell at the New Windmill.

The hosts had held a slender advantage thanks to a freak 14th-minute goal from Tony Breeden, but three penalty awards by referee Joe Clark and the sending off of Lee Downes left Brakes 2-1 down and seemingly sliding to a costly defeat.

However, a triple substitution swung the momentum Leamington’s way, with Robert Bartley’s own goal and Blyth’s 84th-minute header clinching an unlikely three points which lifted Brakes to fifth.

“It looked like all the effort of the last seven or eight months was going to go down the swanny in ten minutes,” said Holleran.

“We had to take a gamble. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

“We asked the three lads to give us some energy and if they did that the players would respond.

“They changed the game, we got more of the ball and put it into better areas.

“That half-hour spell was full of pace, will and quality.

“You won’t see a better worked goal than the third all season.

“It is something you work on in practice, but it hardly ever works on the training ground so to get a winning goal of that quality was something special.”

With both Brakes and Chesham facing difficult fixtures tomorrow, Holleran said the importance of the three-point cushion cannot be overstated.

However, as he prepared his troops for the trip to league leaders Truro, he denied he would be sending his side out with a point in mind.

“Now we go into the last three games with our noses in front,” he said.

“It promises to be another fantastic weekend with us at Truro and Chesham playing Salisbury.

“But we’ll go to Truro full of confidence and going for the win.”

Jamie Hood and skipper Downes will play their final matches tomorrow before serving three-match bans.

Centre-back Hood, a leading contender for player of the year, has amassed 15 bookings, while Downes’ dismissal was his second of the campaign and Holleran said both suspensions were avoidable.

“To say I’m disappointed is an understatement.

“You can look at some of his [Hood’s] decisions and say they were harsh. But when the facts are put in front of you, 15 bookings is difficult to defend.

“It won’t be easy to lose a player of his quality and both he and Lee have let themselves down.

“But we’ll get on with it. We’ve got Richard Batchelor back, Michael Tuohy back in training and we’ve still got Guy Sanders signed on with us so we’ll just have to go to plan B.”