JACK Edwards marked his 400th Leamington appearance with a victory as the Brakes eased to a 3-1 home win against Royston Town.
Adam Walker opened the scoring after just 21 seconds before Cally Stewart and Will Shorrock both found the net at the Your Co-Op Community Stadium.
The result means the Brakes sit fourth in the Southern League Premier Central table, six points behind leaders Redditch United with a game in-hand, having stretched their unbeaten to eight matches.
Leamington boss Paul Holleran said: “I’ve been lucky to manage him [Jack Edwards] for that long, there were lots of times where you thought he would go out of the door in the summer but he stayed and stuck with it.
“There was a period in Jack’s career where he was as good as anything in the National League for us, it was the secret behind a lot of the success we had.
“He had a tough period with the head injury last year, he’s trying to reinvent himself now, there’s a few more games left in him.
“You’ve only got to see the reaction of the supporters and the people who have turned out, he is well thought of on and off the pitch.”
And Leamington made the perfect start as Walker’s first time shot from 20-yards out took a deflection and beat Louis Chadwick in the Royston goal inside the opening minute.
The Brakes doubled their lead on 16 minutes when Stewart bravely flicked home Shorrock’s cross from the left as the scorer just beat Chadwick to the latter’s cross.
And Holleran’s side all but sealed the points on 49 minutes as Shorrock curled a stunning effort into the right corner of the goal from just inside the penalty area.
Royston reduced the deficit on 77 minutes as Kian Harness finished on the rebound after Callum Hawkins kept out Andronicos Georgiou’s initial effort.
Leamington are next in action away at Kettering Town on Saturday, February 17 with kick-off at 3pm at Mortimer Park.
