Today I'm going back just four years to 2017 and Leamington's home fixture against Spennymoor Town in the National League North.
I've lived in Warwick longer than I've lived anywhere else in my life. Ever. It's been 21 years since I landed in the town and, apart from a couple of years in Canada during that time, I've been there ever since. As a result, I've seen a lot of football matches in the West Midlands and Leamington and Racing Club Warwick games in particular. Tuesday night home games especially are attractive when I've little inclination to travel far and getting home by 10PM on a cold winter's night makes sense. Occasionally, especially when the weather is bad, I've something else arranged on a Saturday night, or I'm simply knackered, I'll stay local. This game was my first one back after one of my trips to Canada and I was still recovering from jet lag.
The featured fixture was remarkable for having a very one-sided score line that was as far from a true reflection of the game as it is possible to get. Spennymoor were the better side by a distance! I remember watching Moor's manager and former Hartlepool United player Jason Ainslie walking round the pitch afterwards looking somewhat dazed, trying to take in what had just happened. Leamington took the lead on 26 minutes with a goal from the penalty spot by Colby Bishop. Bishop scored the second goal too in the 52nd minute with a header that the Moors keeper in truth should have done better with. Next up came the chance for Spennymoor to pull one back with a penalty of their own. Of course it was saved by maverick Leamington keeper and penalty specialist Tony Breeden. No matter, as within minutes Spennymoor had a second spot kick and, wouldn't you know it, Breeden saved that one too to atone for his error in giving away the penalty in the first place. It was certainly a tale of penalties as the Brakes had another one in the 76th minute which was slotted away by hattrick hero Colby Bishop. For good measure and to add to the travesty, Kieran Dunbar netted Leamington's fourth with six minutes remaining. If you don't believe me when I tell you that this was one sided it was in favour of the team that lost 4-0 then do watch the highlights video attached to my blog.
Leamington have developed a nice little knack of rehabilitating young strikers who have lost their way in the game. Colby Bishop was one of these. Bishop started his professional career at Notts County in 2014 but managed only four appearances for the club and was then offloaded to a variety of National League North clubs before he found his feet (and goal scoring boots) at Leamington. Bishop made 53 appearances for the Brakes scoring 29 goals and attracting admiring glances from a number of Football League scouts before Accrington Stanley took the plunge and gave him a full-time contract. He has gone on to make over 70 appearances for Accrington scoring at a rate of a goal every three games.
2017/18 was a somewhat difficult season for Leamington and they finished just one place and three points clear of the bottom three who were relegated. Perhaps it was the three points fortuitously secured in this game that did the trick? Spennymoor, on the other hand, had a rather good season but fell away a little in the latter stages of the season and finished one place outside of the Play-Off places in 8th position. Again, a point from the featured game would have made all the difference!
CRB Match No. 2185
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