NUNEATON 4 LEAMINGTON 2

Nuneaton continued their good pre-season form with a 4 –2 win against a well-drilled Leamington side that fought gamely to the final whistle.

Dave ECCLES opened the scoring when he poached a goal following up a rebound from a shot that came about after sustained pressure from the home side.

Nuns then extended their lead with a simple goal when Ali CLARKE took up a good position on the far post to tap in an Ally Jones hit in to the “D”.

Leamington bounced back after half time to pounce on a rebound from a short corner shot that the Nuneaton defence should have cleared on several occasions but Nuneaton fought back and responded well with good passing play that resulted in the award of a penalty flick.

Ally JONES showed character to score from the spot after he had put an earlier flick wide.

However more static defending from Nuneaton allowed Leamington to pull a further goal back on the break before the home side sealed the victory through evergreen Roger STOKES, earning just reward for his hard work throughout the game.

With the league season only two weeks away, Nuneaton need to iron out the defensive mistakes if they are to capitalise on the solid passing play that brought the goals.

LEAMINGTON II 9 NUNEATON II 2

Nuneaton seconds travelled to Leamington with a mixture of youth and maturity and suffered a heavy defeat after having six regular players drafted into the first team squad.

The home team started well and opened the scoring within minutes, but Nuneaton threw caution to the wind and pushed forward to create pressure on the Leamington defence.

An equaliser soon came after the keeper parried Alan Owens’ shot and Tom HIGGINSON was on hand to crash home the rebound.

This only served to spur on the home side who scored two more goals before the break and led by a comfortable 3-1 margin at halftime.

Nuneaton opened the second period in lively fashion, but Leamington’s fourth goal led to heads dropping and the home side began to score freely as Nuneaton’s young defence buckled under the increasing pressure.

Nuneaton claimed a consolation goal in the dying seconds of the game when skipper Alan OWENS gratefully despatched a short corner past the Leamington keeper.

The team will hope to put this defeat behind them in next week’s contest against Coventry Jaguar, and bounce back with an improved performance.