Cambridge City 1-1 Leamington
Evostik Southern League Premier Division
FOOTBALL: LEAMINGTON picked up another useful point at Cambridge City in their bid for promotion, but despite creating several chances to win the game themselves, they were indebted to skipper Tony Breeden for some vital saves to keep them level.
The game was played out on a difficult surface at St Ives Town’s ProEdge stadium that bore the scars of having so many matches played on it, and as a result the ball spent plenty of time in the air.
Invigorated after picking up ten points from their last six games, the home side were the first to threaten and a smart stop from Breeden was required to keep out Matt Foy in the penalty area.
However the Brakes keeper was powerless to prevent a stunning opening goal for the Lilywhites on 22 minutes when Snaith executed a superb first time volley with perfect technique and the ball rocketed into the roof of the net.
Leamington were unable to gain a foothold in the game at this point and but for the width of a post could have found themselves further behind three minutes later. Foy beat Breeden with his shot only for the ball to strike the outside of the post before it was cleared away to safety.
The visitors dragged themselves level with something of a gift on the half hour mark. A high ball in from the left into a deserted Cambridge penalty area somehow bounced over tall centre back Jordan Williams and deceived goalkeeper Dean Snedker.
Neither player had spotted Jack Edwards stealing in at the far post and he stooped to head home probably one of the easiest goals of his career from a couple of yards out.
The goal seemed to act as a wake up call to Leamington and they pushed forward at regular intervals for the remainder of the half, with Courtney Baker-Richardson clattering the bar with a header from Richard Taundry’s free kick, only to find he had been flagged offside.
Shortly after the break Baker-Richardson was played in on the right by Edwards, but blazed wildly over the bar, while Joe Magunda came very close to breaking his goal duck with a looping header from another Taundry free kick dropping onto the roof of the net.
Capela engineered a golden opportunity to fire his side in front when he muscled his way past Gudger to crash in a powerful effort that was met by a fantastic stop from Breeden, who scrambled to his feet to keep out a fierce first time drive from right back Ben Robinson with an even better save.
Baker-Richardson had a penalty shout waved away, but Cambridge had further opportunities to snatch a late win.
Charlie Woolfe should probably have scored but the City substitute sliced his volley wide of the target.
An almighty scramble in the Leamington penalty area in injury time saw Brakes eventually clear their lines after several failed attempts, but they were very nearly undone by a swirling wind assisted cross from Buster Harradine that landed on the roof of the net.
Attendance: 214
Team: Breeden, Taundry, Gudger, Pond, Hood (Hittings 73), Magunda, Baker-Richardson, Goddard (Thompson-Brown 80), Obeng, Edwards, Powell (Gregory 69).
Subs not used – George, James.
