Gibson gifts Warwick win (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Gibson gifts Warwick win

Stratford Tn 1, Racing Club Warwick 3

STRATFORD Town lost their grip on the Polymac Services League Cup on a night when goalkeeper Chris Gibson lost his grip on the ball, writes Mervyn Collins.

Even the best managers in football can't legislate for errors by the man between the sticks, so new boss Ian Britton's second defeat in the space of four days won't dishearten him too much although he will have been disappointed with a lack of attacking ideas and the slack marking that saw Racing Club take a 16th minute lead courtesy of Leon Thomas.

When Gibson challenged Jermaine Gordon on the edge of the home penalty area 11 minutes into the second half and the ball fell kindly for Junior Hewitt to nod into the empty net, Stratford's proud record in the competition of never having lost a tie since October 2002 seemed set to end.

Expertly

However, the best move of the night started by Dennis Bailey, helped on by Tom Leaver and finished expertly by Peter Faulds gave the trophy holders 24 minutes to salvage an equaliser.

Gibson's second spill of the evening in the 77th minute gifted Hewitt a simple second and the prospect of a knockout hat-trick was dead and buried.

Britton wielded the axe following the weekend defeat, leaving Nick Heath and Dean Wellington on the bench, while an injury to Phil Mortimer brought a debut for Luke Bradley, amazingly the 57th player to pull on a blue shirt this season and not the last.

Dennis Bailey and Tom Leaver were given starting roles, but Jamie Barnes wasn't until Dennis Mulholland pulled a muscle in the warm-up.

Both sides had early shots off target before Hewitt was allowed space to pick out Thomas who blasted the opener past an exposed Gibson.

Jermaine Gordon volleyed over as Town's defence again went missing, while Gibson showed safe hands to clutch a drive from former Town midfielder Darren Beckett.

Tom Cudworth's speculative shot from distance had Gibson back-pedalling ten minutes after the break but, when the goalkeeper put his feet into forward gear a minute later, his foray to the edge of the 18-yard area spelled trouble and Hewitt capitalised.

Faulds hit an 18-yarder on to the roof of the Warwick goal on the hour three minutes before player number 58 was brought off the bench as Robbie Elmes replaced an ineffective Paul Hunter.

When Faulds halved the arrears, a comeback appeared viable but Gibson literally handed the quarter-final tie on a plate to the Hampton Roaders to leave his manager pondering a meaningless end to what has in truth has been a meaningless season.

It started in fine style with the capture of the League Cup - but Tuesday night's termination of a terrific sequence of results in the competition will haunt the Masons Road for the next three months.

Just take a look at the front of Stratford's matchday programme with Paul O'Brien holding aloft the trophy - the same Paul O'Br-ien who, as Racing Club's assistant manager, helped plot Town's downfall that was in truth of their own making!

Travel Factory Alliance

(bottom half)

Westfields 26 10 8 8 37 35 38

Romulus 27 10 8 9 43 44 38

Loughboro 28 11 5 12 52 55 38

Alvechurch 25 10 2 13 46 41 32

Stratford 26 10 2 14 40 46 32

Cradley 27 10 2 15 43 55 32

Biddulph 26 8 6 12 44 52 30

Oldbury* 26 8 6 12 39 46 27

Studley 29 6 8 15 39 60 26

Causeway 28 5 7 16 28 48 22

Ludlow 27 7 4 16 31 57 25

Bridgnorth 31 4 3 24 28 87 15

*Points deducted.