Racing Club Warwick bridged the gap with their illustrious neighbours and proved a tough nut to crack at Townsend Meadow. It look a penalty for Leamington to get a draw and prevent Warwick from lifting the Tony Horley Cup alone.

James had a free-kick deflected for a corner by the Warwick wall but goalmouth action was a rarity in the early stages as the visitors struggled for fluency against superbly drilled Racing side who closed down all over the pitch. Racing, looking solid at the back and using the ball well but rarely threatened the Laamington keeper Breeden until their opening goal in the 24th minute. Breeden raced out of his goal to deal with a cleverly lofted ball from Slevin and Louis Bridges calmly tucked it away. James came close to an equaliser in the 33rd minute, hitting the top of the home crossbar with Tom Cross stranded, while Magunda’s header from a Thompson-Brown corner was cleared off the line by the impressive Jack Taylor.

There was little to worry Cross and Racing as Leamington struggled to find a way through Racing Club’s massed ranks. A neat move down the left presented Bridges with a shooting chance seven minutes into the second half but his shot went wide.

Hutchcox did well to block a shot from Obeng as Brakes began to look more threatening. A run and shot from Revan then brought out a parry from Cross with the ball rebounding dangerously into the centre of the area before being ushered away.

Both sides made triple substitutions just short of the hour-mark, Racing with Brown, Church and Vadasz who all sparked life back into the Warwick side, and Colby Bishop serving to pep up the Leamington forward line.

A Bishop snap-shot from outside the area also failed to hit the target but it was indicative of a step up in intent from the Conference North side as they looked to preserve their 100 per cent start to pre-season. Church then presented the visitors with a way back in the 71st minute, going dangerously high with a challenge on Obeng which had referee Martin Gittins pointing to the spot.

Thompson-Brown stepped up to send Cross the wrong way from the resultant penalty to bring Leamington level. Bishop had a chance to put his side ahead just a minute later but he was unable to guide his header from Obeng’s cross. The striker then saw a shot cleared off the line by Jamie Vadasz.

Church then broke the offside trap but his shot was saved by Breeden and with the game opening up, Cross was called on to block from Revan, while at the other end Breeden had to be alert to keep out Church after a clever through ball from Alex Price. A dinked cross from Taundry was headed wide by Bishop and Turton was just off target with his head for the Warwick as both sides chased a winner. Bishop was then denied by the woodwork after twisting and turning in the box to get off a shot which was deflected past Cross. Courtney Baker-Richardson and Taundry both failed to trouble Cross with shots, and as the game entered the dying seconds, Racing fans were left frustrated when Knight latched onto a Price through ball only to be adjudged to have failed the defender as he was about to bear down on goal.

Racing Club Warwick: Tom Cross, Jack Taylor, Joe Carter, Martin Hutchcox, John Blunsom, Martin Slevin, Henry Leaver, Alex Price, Ryan Billington, Louis Bridges, Robbie Stevens. Subs: Ben Cranage, Adam Knight, Mark Turton, Jamie Vadasz, Luke Church, Jake Brown.

Brakes: Tony Breeden, James Mace, Tom James, Joe Clarke, Jamie Hood, Joe Magunda, Kurtis Revan, Junior English, Stefan Moore, Rob Thompson-Brown, Ahmed Obeng. Subs: Tom Rankin, Shay Nicholson, Colby Bishop, Richard Taundry, Courtney Baker-Richardson, Connor Gudger, Charlie Hornby,