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Leamington are one of those Clubs in that hinterland which can see changes between National League North and South, or in the case of relegation, (as happened to the Brakes at the end of 2014/15) they found themselves in the Southern League. A replacement of a hike to Barrow being replaced by the likes of Poole; Weymouth and Hungerford. I have often wondered whether this has an impact on establishing an identity. No matter what, I can say that I always enjoyed going down to the New Windmill Ground. Not only for football but being only a 20 minute trip to see Rob and family in Solihull, it always provided a decent chance for family gathering!

The trip in the early stages of the 2017/18 season, to what always seemed to me to be the middle of nowhere, came 5 games into the campaign and things hadn’t started too well. The previous 4 had brought just one win, over Curzon, but I was still of the mind that the work Jim Gannon had done in hist first full season back had started to demonstrate that better times were ahead. There had been some changes of personnel, with the introduction of Matty Warburton, (a player I had admired when seeing him play for Curzon many times; Darren Stephenson, (so often a thorn in our side when turning out for Chorley), and Jason Oswell. The latter had arrived from Newtown in the Welsh league where he had a reputation as a quality marksman. And 50 goals in 94 games for them certainly backed up that reputation. Despite that average start to the season Oswell had already hot the target 3 times in the first 4 games. And he was to show the County following at Leamington just how lethal he could be in the 6 yard box.

A quarter of an hour into the game Connor Hampson launched a free kick into the Leamington box and Oswell threw himself at it and planted a header into the corner of the net. A Brakes equaliser from the spot, (after a foul by Sam Minihan), a few minutes before the half time whistle left the game finely balanced, and it stayed that way until 8 minutes from time. A poorly defended corner saw Leamington take the lead. Gloom descended on the County fans – this wasn’t a game any of us expected to lose. The minutes ticked away and on 86 minutes a corner from second half sub Sam Walker from the County right found Oswell who got his foot to it just inside the 6 yard box and angled it past Breeden in the home goal. The County fans were exultant. But it was to get better.

As injury time ebbed away County went forward for what would probably be the last time. Jimmy Ball, wide on the right, slung the ball in, and Oswell, showing a predatory instinct got in behind the home defender and touched it in. It was one of those moments. It simply doesn’t matter whether the game is in the Championship; the FA Cup or regionalised part-time football. There is nothing better than to claim victory from the jaws of defeat, and a last gasp winner makes it all the better.

So a hat-trick for Oswell, making it six already that season. Unquestionably a quality goalscorer he played a big part that season, and helped us into the Play-Offs. Moving on at the end of the campaign for a chance at league football with Morecambe, things didn’t seem to work out for him, and by the time Covid arrived he was back in the NLN, with Telford, after a spell at Wrexham.

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Memories of trips to The New Windmill

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THE GAMES

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Where the date is in bold click for highlights of the game

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	Date	Venue	Ground	Competition		F	A	Att:
Sat	14/09/13	h	Edgeley Park	The Skrill North (Tier 6)	D	1	1	2,925
Sat	01/03/14	a	New Windmill Ground	The Skrill North (Tier 6)	L	1	2	1,038
Sat	18/10/14	a	New Windmill Ground	Vanarama Conference North (Tier 6)	W	2	0	855
Sat	24/01/15	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama Conference North (Tier 6)	W	4	2	2,884
Sat	19/08/17	a	New Windmill Ground	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6)	W	3	2	844
Sat	24/03/18	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6)	W	4	0	3,673
Sat	01/09/18	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6)	W	3	1	2,680
Tues	22/01/19	a	New Windmill Ground	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6)	W	1	0	604

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