Brakes 2 Colwyn Bay 1: Newton fires Leamington past the 50-point mark to cap encouraging Conference debut

Danny Newton’s 76th-minute strike - his 11th since joining in January - settled the clash after Reece Flanagan had earlier cancelled out Cameron Darkwah’s opener, extending Leamington’s unbeaten run to nine matches in the process.

The game kicked off in bright sunshine with Colwyn Bay getting first use of a strong wind which was blowing diagonally across the New Windmill.

The home side were first to threaten, however, Nathan Hicks guiding a shot wide of the post following Lee Chilton’s cross from the left.

Brakes were then guilty of lacksadaisical defending as Darkwah tricked his way past half-hearted challenges from Ryan Higgins and Liam Daly before slotting home from six yards in the 13th minute.

Tony Breeden denied them a second three minutes later with a fine reaction save from Gareth Evans, tipping his close-range effort on to the bar after Stephan Morley had been caught out by a crossfield pass.

Brakes responded with a spell of sustained pressure and Aron Wint was unlucky to see his measured 25-yard strike cannon off the bar to safety with Seagulls keeper Josh Clark well beaten.

Danny Newton flashed a drive just past the angle of post and bar, while James Mace and Wint both failed to get decent connections on their shots after Flanagan had done well to pull the ball back to the edge of the six-yard box.

A Breeden walkabout caused an anxious moment, with the keeper playing his way out of trouble as two attackers closed in and play quickly returned to the Colwyn Bay half where Brakes were awarded a free-kick 25 yards from goal.

Clark took an age to set up his wall and despite appearing to be positioned too far to his right, it still needed excellent technique from Flanagan to lift the ball over the wall and into the Colwyn Bay net.

Newton almost pounced on defensive uncertainty to put Brakes ahead, but he was unable to keep his shot down, while a similar lack of care in possession from the hosts also went unpunished as first Darkwah and then Sean Williams shot straight at Breeden.

The second half was 26 minutes old before there was anything worthy of recollection, Jamie Crowther blazing over after being set up by Marc Williams.

Higgins then very nearly signed off from his Leamington loan spell with a goal, driving in from the left before unleashing a fierce shot which struck the far post with Clark beaten. Newton picked up the pieces but he was unable to find the target with his follow-up.

The former Brackley striker made no mistake minutes later, however. Receiving the ball with his back to goal, Newton cut across the defender and angled a shot back across the keeper who, wrongfooted, was unable to adjust his momentum in time to get across to the ball as it squirmed into the net.

Referee Martin Dexter, who had been a peripheral figure for the most part, was called into action in the final few minutes, first waving away penalty claims after Darkwah went down in the box and then adjudging the ball not to have crossed line after a late flurry from the visitors called Breeden into action once more.

The full-time whistle came seconds later and Leamington’s reward was a final points tally which left them just five wins behind big-spending Brackley and looking down on Stockport. Not forgetting an unbeaten Conference North streak, which even in the worst-case scenario, is now set to extend to five months.

BRAKES: Tony Breeden, Ryan Higgins, Stephan Morley, Joe Magunda, Liam Daly, James Mace, Aron Wint (Ricky Johnson 78), Reece Flanagan (Craig Owen 60), Danny Newton, Nathan Hicks (Matt Dodd 60), Lee Chilton. Subs not used: Lee Moore, Peter Till.

Colwyn Bay: Josh Clark, Danny Taylor, Anthony Stephens, Jonathan Royle, Tom Smyth, Jamie Crowther, Gareth Evans (Jamie Ellison 57), Sean Williams (Jamie Tolley 57), Rob Hopley, Marc Williams, Cameron Darkwah. Subs not used: Chris Sanna, Denislav Pilliner, Mike Lea.