LEAMINGTON FC suffered a 1-0 defeat away at York City to remain winless on the road for 10 matches dating back to last November.
The Brakes were undone by Kurt Willoughby’s sensational free-kick on 65 minutes as their away day woes continued at the LNER Community Stadium.
And the result means Leamington sit 14th in the National League North table, 10 points outside of the play-off places.
York started the better of the two teams with captain Matty Brown heading wide from a corner before Scott Barrow curled a free-kick narrowly past the post.
However, Leamington had the half’s best chance when Dan Meredith cut inside before striking goalwards only to be denied by York keeper Maxim Kouogun who diverted the ball over his own crossbar.
The home side almost claimed the lead just before half time when Leamington goalkeeper Callum Hawkins was forced to push Lenell John-Lewis’s header over the bar.
And Hawkins made another crucial save in the second period when he managed to touch a right-wing cross away from John-Lewis to prevent the striker from scoring.
York eventually made the breakthrough when Willoughby produced a stunning free-kick that left Hawkins with no chance after the same player had blazed over when well-placed moments earlier.
And the visitors nearly doubled their lead shortly after when Oliver Dyson’s effort hit the post and bounced clear after Adam Walker had skewed a shot over the bar at the other end.
The Brakes had a late chance to draw level when Devon Kelly-Evans late free-kick flew past the post but Leamington were unable to end their struggles away from home.
Leamington boss Paul Holleran said: “It was a really good, hard-working, structured performance today.
“We’ve had to put a few square pegs in round holes and have had to give players their debut that haven’t even trained with us yet.
“I couldn’t knock their work ethic or their concentration levels. It’s taken a dubious free kick to beat us; but this league is like this. You can travel away to Farsley on Tuesday and to York on Saturday, work really hard and come away with nothing.
“That’s the way it is. We will brush ourselves down, we’ve got a free week. We’ll recover and train and get ready for Saturday’s home game.”
The Brakes are next in action at home to Darlington on Saturday, April 2 with kick-off at 3pm at the Your Co-Op Community Stadium.
