LEAMINGTON eased to a 3-0 home win against fellow play-off hopefuls Stamford to boost their own chances of securing a top-five finish.
Goals from Jack Edwards and Adam Walker put the Brakes in command before Cally Stewart completed the scoring in injury time at the Your Co-Op Community Stadium.
And the result means Leamington sit fourth in the Southern League Premier Central table with two games left to play.
The home side broke the deadlock on 15 minutes when Edwards looped a header over a Stamford defender on the line after Theo Streete headed Josh Quaynor’s corner towards goal.
And the Brakes doubled their lead six minutes later as Walker showed great composure to cut inside of his man and fire a shot past Stamford goalkeeper Michael Duggan.
Paul Holleran’s side made sure of the points three minutes into injury time when Stewart coolly rolled the ball into the bottom left corner after some neat footwork in the box following a fine run from Walker.
Following a crucial victory, Brakes boss Holleran said: “We all knew what kind of game it was going to be. Stamford are such a front-footed, brave team that always commit people forward, I really like them.
“We put in a really polished performance. We’ve been structurally very strong. We’ve tried to keep them on the outside, we’ve dealt with the overloads. We’ve created lots and lots of chances.
“You look at the character and the mental strength of the players, there were a couple of things out of our control that didn’t go our way, and then you look at the resilience in them playing a Stamford side who are on great run, and that was as polished a performance as you’ll see this season.
“With two games to go we’re in a decent position. We know what we’ve got to do now but there’s still a lot of work to do.
“When you get to this stage of the season the games mean something, which is good. It almost felt like a bit of a play-off game.”
Leamington are next in action away at Leiston on Saturday, April 20 with kick-off at 3pm at Victory Road.
