Two goals and a red card in the first ten minutes set the tone for the fixture at the Horsfall stadium as a 10 man Avenue were unable to etch out any consolation and Leamington took away all three points.
What was considered to be a must win game by many at the Horsfall got off to the worst possible start for Bower’s men as March opened the scoring on the 8th minute, heading home from a corner at the near post.
Just one minute later Hughes brought down March in the box to concede a penalty and received a red card for his actions. March went on to secure his second, slotting the ball low and to the left a Green went the other way.
Half Time – Bradford 0 – 2 Leamington
Bradford came out after the break and pushed bodies forward as they looked to try and gain some impetus in the game, but were quickly caught out as March broke through on the counter just 4 minutes into the half and secured his hat trick as he went one on one with Joe Green.
The brakes looked to punish Bradford further as the half wore on, with an effort from Clarke sailing over Green only to come off the cross bar.
Another chance came in the 68th minute as Green was forced to tip the ball over the bar as it curled towards the top corner from an excellently placed strike by the goal hungry March.
Avenue continued to look for the ever elusive goal, but with the lion’s share of the possession falling to the Brakes, it never looked to be coming.
Full Time – Bradford 0 – 3 Leamington
Teams:
Avenue:
1 Green
2 Bazeley
3 Priestley
4 Lowe (C)
5 Hughes (Red – 9′)
6 Royle
7 Knight (O. Johnson – 67′)
8 Marriott
9 Sweeney (Heaton – 39′)
10 Hurst
11 Nowakowski (A. Johnson – 75′)
Subs:
12 Rathbone
14 A. Johnson
15 Heaton
16 O. Johnson
Leamington:
1 Weaver
2 English
3 Morley
4 Maycock
5 Mace
6 Lane
7 Carline
8 Clarke
9 March (Goals: 8′ 9′ & 49′) (Taylor – 78′)
10 Edwards (C) (Gittings – 61′)
11 Anderson (Dunbar – 70′)
Subs:
12 Walters
14 Dunbar
15 Gittings
16 Taylor
17 Murphey