PROMOTION!

Incredible !

When we were struggling in the Swindon League and later relegated from the Premier Division of the Hellenic League, who could have thought today’s result possible ? Even when we won the Hellenic League and were promoted to the Southern League, and we hoped to hold our own in the league,  we did even better than that, and  that marvellous play-off win against Merthyr showed that we were more than  worth our place and the Premier Division posed  another challenge. Narrowly missing out in the play-offs in the first year was still a great achievement, beaten by Truro in the play-offs last year  year was an even better performance, but who could have imagined a play-off final and a win over Leamington and a place in the National League South ?

No praise can be too high for Bobby and his team, both on and off the pitch, who pulled off another  marvellous win, but so many have done so much off the pitch that it is impossible, and unfair to pick out  any one individual, but I cannot avoid mentioning Steve Skipworth who has been a tower of strength, not only on this amazing day , but every other day. Thank you Skippy.

But what about the game ? Well, like the two previous meetings, it was a game between two evenly matched sides, who  cancelled each other out, so that there were few real goal-scoring chances and the excitement came from the knowledge of the reward for the winners, plus a crowd of well over 1300, almost ten times our usual gate, which included a fair proportion of Leamington fans.

We got in an early attack but Tony Breeden saved confidently, and Paul Strudley pulled of an even better save when the ball was deflected off a Hungerford defender. James Clark fired high and wide following a long throw, but when Garyn Preen was booked, it looked like a case of mistaken identity. Leamington used direct tactics, keeper Breeden firing balls the length of the pitch, and after the visitors won a corner from one of these clearances, Courtney Baker-Richardson was lurking near the edge of the penalty area and fired home a fierce shot through a crowd of players in the 21st. minute to give the visitors the lead.

The rain became heavier as half-time approached, but play continued at a frantic pace and Preen,s low cross-shot was cleared off the line just before the interval.

The rain got even worse for a spell, but did eventually ease off and conditions began to improve. Ian Herring and Lee Moore  received treatment after a clash of heads but both were able to continue. Breeden slipped as he came out to intercept a through ball, but he recovered and was able to  clear the danger. The equaliser came after 64 minutes, when Matt Day’s long ball opened up the defence and Stefan Brown raced through to score a splendid goal. What a roar from the home supporters !

Neither side could seem to create a clear-cut opening and extra time began to look a possibility, but with 5 minutes to go, Preen’s corner was headed home by Mike Jones and although Leamington did not create a real chance, the final minutes, plus 5 minutes of injury time, seemed an age before the final whistle signalled victory.                                                                                                                                                                                                   We had won ! The players and supporters celebrated wildly, and so they should !

Team, Strudley, Horgan, Tyler, Jones, Day, Rees(Rusby),Clark, Herring, Jarvis, Brown, Preen(Goodger) Subs; Draycott, John, Boardman.