FOOTBALL - Leamington impress in pre-season defeat to Coventry - The Leamington Observer

FOOTBALL - Leamington impress in pre-season defeat to Coventry

Leamington Editorial 4th Jul, 2022   0

LEAMINGTON made an impressive start to their pre-season campaign despite suffering a 3-1 defeat to Championship side Coventry City.

The Brakes took a shock lead after just two minutes through Dan Turner before City showed their class to score three second-half goals.

With manger Paul Holleran absent, the club’s backroom staff took charge of the fixture with new recruit Theo Streete handed a debut in defence alongside a trialist.

And Leamington made the perfect start in front of a record 2,131 crowd at the Your Co-Op Community Stadium when Turner finished at the back post from Jack Edwards’ powerful flick on.




The Brakes thought they had doubled their lead soon after when Devon Kelly-Evans fired past City goalkeeper Simon Moore only for Jack Burroughs to make a sensational clearance off the line.

And Kelly-Evans went close again when he flashed a header wide of goal from five-yards out from Charlie Williams’ cross from the right.


Coventry eventually forced Jake Weaver into a save when Gus Hamer brought down a high ball before firing a low effort towards the bottom left corner that was expertly tipped behind.

Undeterred, Leamington went straight back up the other end with Kelly-Evans denied by Moore when one-on-one before Edwards’ shot was cleared off the line from the resulting corner.

City striker Martyn Waghorn was twice denied by Weaver towards the end of the half as Leamington held onto their lead at the break.

Coventry boss Mark Robins named a completely different team in the second period as Weaver made another fine save to tip Matty Godden’s effort around the post.

However, the Sky Blues eventually found their equaliser when Godden glanced a header into the bottom right corner from Todd Kane’s cross on the hour mark.

And City completed the turnaround six minutes later when Godden finished at the second attempt from close range after being played through by Ben Sheaf.

The win was sealed when Fabio Tavares headed in at the back post from six-yards out on 73 minutes from Ryan Howley’s cross to cap off an impressive display from the Portuguese youngster.

Leamington’s next pre-season fixture is against Boldmere St. Micahels on Saturday, July 9 with kick-off at 3pm at the Trevor Brown Memorial Ground.

Subscribe

Receive a weekly update to your inbox by signing up to our weekly newsletter.

Reader Travel

Check out all of the latest reader travel offers to get your hands on some free gifts.

Online Editions

Catch up on your local news by reading our e-editions on the Leamington Observer.

Advertising

Advertise with the Leamington Observer to reach your audience