Hemel win preserves Brakes’ slim play-off hopes

Brakes stretched their unbeaten run to ten games by defeating relegation-threatened Hemel, but results elsewhere mean the play-off places remain tantalisingly out of reach, writes Paul Edwards.

The visitors arrived in desperate need of the points and Liam Daly was forced to clear away from the Leamington goal in the opening exchanges.

He was in action at the other end soon after, powering in a header that was hacked off the line by Tudors skipper Dave Deeney.

Lee Steele had a good opportunity from a left-wing cross but got his angles wrong and headed well wide. The veteran striker then slipped Lee Chilton in, with the midfielder driving over the angle of post and bar.

Brakes came closer still when Alex Taylor’s header was pushed behind by Hemel keeper Mike McEntergart.

Chilton then drove a shot wide from the corner.

The visitors rallied, Ryan Blake firing over the bar and Ross Lafayette doing likewise, but they soon found themselves behind.

Danny May shoved Chilton to the ground just inside the box and Stephan Morley took responsibility to drive the resultant penalty past McEntergart, despite the keeper getting a firm hand to the ball.

Tudors’ on-loan striker Nabil Sharif shot across goal and just wide before David Kolodynski drew a save from McEntergart.

A fine ball out to the right then set the striker away again and he cut inside before seeing his shot deflected behind for a corner, from which Taylor headed wide.

A huge kick downfield by Nathan Vaughan led to the second goal three minutes before half-time.

With nobody in the Hemel defence taking responsibility, Steele nipped in and lifted the ball over the stranded keeper for his first goal in Leamington colours.

Steele then stabbed inches wide after a scramble in the six-yard box.

Paul Holleran was forced to shuffle his pack, using all three substitutes by the 66th minute.

Daly took a blow to the ribs and did not reappear after half-time due to breathing difficulties, while Kolodynski was unable to run off a knock he picked up towards the end of the first half and was replaced by Jacob Blyth.

Morley then had to be replaced after an awful challenge from Lafayette which saw the Brakes player slammed into the perimeter fence.

The Hemel striker was booked, followed by team-mate Danny May, presumably for something he said to the referee.

Lafayette almost caught Vaughan out with a header that bounced back off the post before a slick move down the right saw a cross smartly finished off by Nabil Sharif.

However, no sooner were Hemel back in the game then the two-goal cushion was restored.

James Mace was unfortunate to see his header cleared off the line, but the ball was only cleared to the edge of the box, where Blyth marked his return from injury in style, crashing in a volley that pinged into the top corner with the aid of a slight deflection.

It was his 19th goal of the season, and he was only denied number 20 by the fingertips of McEntergart after cleverly making space for himself on the edge of the area.

Sharif shot wide again for Hemel, while Darren Locke almost put through his own net when stretching to reach Blyth’s near-post cross, with McEntergart reacting superbly to push the ball behind.

Locke redeemed himself when denying Steele a one-on-one, but Brakes had already done enough to claim the points.

Brakes: Nathan Vaughan, James Mace, Stephan Morley (Matt Dodd, 66), Neil Barnfield, Jamie Hood, Liam Daly (James Husband, 46), Alex Taylor, Craig Owen, Lee Steele, David Kolodynski (Jacob Blyth, 57), Lee Chilton. Subs not used: Ian King, Jamie Sheldon.

Hemel Hempstead Town: Mike McEntergart, Danny May, Matt McEntergart, Bill Morgan (Marquin Smith, 47), Darren Locke, Dave Deeney (Robbie Burns, 86), Ryan Blake, Kieron Schmidt, Nabil Sharif (Lewis Toomey, 78), Ross Lafayette, David Pearce. Subs not used: Charlie Gorman, Brad Harrison.