Willenhall 1 Leamington 2

On the same day manager Mel Eves left the club along with assistant Joe O’Connor and coach Mark Kavanagh, Willenhall Town faced a tough test as league leaders Leamington visited Noose Lane.

Caretaker manager Dean Edwards  and the other club coach Romeo Bertini  persuaded ex-Wolves  keeper Phil Parkes to also help.

Edwards  brought in Anthony Newton, popular midfielder Micky Eagles and pacey striker Justin Nisbett.

Things started well with Willenhall taking the lead on seven minutes through  Tyrone Barnett who poked the ball past Richard Morris from close range.

The league leaders showed  why they were there when they equalised on 26 minutes. 

A deep free kick to the back post found the head of Russell Dunkley, who beat Jackson to the ball to make the score 1-1.

Leamington then surged forward looking for another goa land they scored two minutes before the break.

 The Willenhall defence were undone by a through ball which left Adam Cooper in a  race with Todd Perry and although Perry was ahead he fell leaving Cooper the easy task of calmly slotting the ball past Jackson.

 Unlike recent games Willenhall would not give in.

Substitute Justin Nisbett darted up the right wing before Sean Platt’s excellent ball caused chaos inside the area, but unfortunately Tyrone Barnett could not add to his tally and the ball went wide.

This was  a much better display from Willenhall.

They will look to build on this performance, as off the field, the search for Mel Eve’s successor gathers momentum.