PAUL Holleran celebrated 15 years at the helm of Leamington with a 2-1 victory against National League North rivals King’s Lynn Town in the FA Trophy.
Both Cally Stewart and Jack Edwards struck inside the first 10 minutes to put the Brakes in command before Josh Hmami netted a late goal for the visitors at the Your Co-Op Community Stadium.
The win puts the Brakes into the hat for the the third round draw and Holleran insists there is still plenty of work for him to do at the club after becoming Leamington boss in November 2009.
Holleran said: “The years are rolling on. I’ve said it before that it was probably never meant to be like this at the start but that’s where it is.
“There’s been a lot more ups than downs, lots of great moments, trying to grow the club on and off the pitch and being part of the team that does that.
“Trying to develop young players, trying to make us a National League North side that can hang around and compete and that’s hard.
“Still plenty of work to do, certainly not another 15 years worth, I know that, but we’ll keep going for the moment.”
Leamington broke the deadlock after just 13 seconds when Stewart latched onto Joe Doyle-Charles’ powerful header and produced a clinical finish from inside the box.
And the home side doubled their lead seven minutes later as Edwards flicked Josh Quaynor’s long throw from the left into the bottom right corner.
The visitors pulled a goal back with 10 minutes left to play when Hmami lifted a shot over Brakes goalkeeper Callum Hawkins as the home side held on to reach the next round of the competition.
Leamington are next in action against Chester on Tuesday, November 19 with kick-off at 7.45pm at the Your Co-op Community Stadium.
