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That was a big 3 points from an extremely tough game.

Looking back at it, we were nowhere near the standard I expected for the first 35 minutes of the match. For some reason, we were off the pace, couldn’t get out of first gear, and our passing and movement was poor. I’m not sure what you attribute that to, maybe it was because of the first Saturday/Tuesday match sequence of the season and two high impact games. But whatever it was, it was something that wasn’t expected and we were very lucky not to have conceded a couple of goals in the first half hour.

Obviously, the strike from Tony Burke unlocked the door, and it was a great move from us that lead to his goal. I thought John Kennedy showed great awareness to play him in, and Tony finished it well.

I took James Krause off as he wasn’t right after the injury he got at Brackley. We gambled that he would be OK, but it wasn’t to be and we could have been in a situation of aggravating his injury more if he had continued.

At half time I told the players that although I was happy with 1-0 at the break, we needed to raise our game as we knew what Leamington had and I wanted a big improvement to what we had witnessed during the first half hour.

I thought we started the second half OK, but clearly the equaliser in terms of the free-kick was poor on two fronts. Firstly, it was a clumsy tackle from Milton Elenge right on the edge of the box and secondly the wall just didn’t do its job. I don’t know how the ball got through, but it was soft from our point of view.

That said, we had a great response, and I was delighted for Craig Hammond getting his first goal for us. He showed good awareness and finished it well. Even at 2-1, I felt it could still go either way, so I was naturally delighted with getting a 2-goal advantage courtesy of Adie’s wonderful chip. He showed good determination to force a defensive error, and his finish was inch perfect.

At 3-1 and at home, you would fancy us to win, but with the players that Leamington have, and how they were playing the game, we were always going to be a little uneasy with still a good part of the match left. So when they got their second goal it was a bit of a blow as the warning signs had already been displayed moments before. What’s more Liam Nicell and Milton Elenge should have done better in the lead up to the goal.

So that set-up a grandstand finish. Obviously Kolodynski has missed a good chance. Like everyone else, I thought it was going in as he struck it really well. I thought he had a good game and I’m confident that it will not be too long before he gets his account up and running.

Then of course at the end it was the dramatic finale. I have no complaints at all about the penalty decision. Adie Cambridge clearly hand-balled it, and as soon as I saw it I thought penalty, and so it proved. Everyone knows what an outstanding keeper Zac is, and his save was just that. He’s guessed it right, and has done wonderfully well to claw the ball away from what was an excellent spot kick by Luke Corbett.

I was obviously relieved to get our home campaign off to a winning start. Although we made life difficult for ourselves, you have to give Leamington an enormous amount of credit. They are a decent side, better than they were last year, and have some quality players in their squad, and should do well this season.

There is no respite to our tough start as we have Salisbury at Milton Road on Saturday. They are full time, and have scored 5 goals already this season, and have managed to attract a number of ex-pro’s to their squad so it will be tough. However, the win last night has lit the blue touch paper for the season, so although it will be a difficult one for us, the lads will go into it full of confidence after their first victory of the season.

In terms of injuries, James Krause is the only doubt. He has a few more days to recover now, so we’ll see how it goes.

Finally, I would like to mention both sets of fans last night. Leamington always have an excellent following, and there was good banter between the two, making for a good atmosphere, which is always good to see.