This result was a
complete travesty of football justice.
For 89 minutes Rothwell Town - through their stout defending - had frustrated the league leaders' rampant strikeforce and, of course, the majority of the crowd.
The Bones had carved out several scoring opportunities
themselves which also kept Leamington's defence
on their toes.
Then with only one minute left of normal time Alex Malong, who up until this point had a faultless performance, made a superb save from substitute Chris Murphy - catching the ball cleanly at full stretch to his left.
Then for some unknown reason he fumbled the ball to the feet of Mark Bellingham who tucked away his 40th goal of the season from three yards.
It was a heartbreaker for all concerned from Rothwell and the Cameroon-born goalkeeper was inconsolable at the end of the game.
Bones manager Rob Dunion said: "I'm distraught to be honest. But I'm proud of every one of the lads.
"Unfortunately other results went against us as well, but that's life.
"To be honest, we should have been 2-0 up at half-time. That's why we're down at the bottom - we don't take our chances."
Kevin Byrne followed in a back-pass and put Chris Kiely under pressure with the ball at his feet. But the rebound went just wide.
Mibeye Medine, Michael Boyle-Chong and Byrne had further chances.
In the second half Leamington were on fire but Rothwell still managed to create opportunities as Boyle-Chong and Danny Marlow went close.
In the last 20 minutes the Brakes won seven corners and they had the ball in the net but the referee rightly denied them following a foul on Robbie Maddox.
Then came the disaster.
Rothwell must now face Leighton Town at Cecil
Street tomorrow and rock-bottom Malvern away on
Saturday.
Leamington: Kiely, Jackson,
Parisi, Saunders, Hier (sub Blake, 83 mins), Reynolds,
Herlihy, Stanley (sub Beckley, 58 mins), Corbett
(sub Murphy, 70 mins), Bellingham, Husband. Subs
not used: Palmer, Anstiss.
Rothwell Town: Malong, Hackett
(sub Wiltshire, 90 mins), Glass, Maddox, Flannigan,
White, Maude (sub F Koriya, 70 mins), Boyle-Chong,
Byrne, Medine, Marlow (sub Goodall, 70 mins).
Subs not used: McIlwain, Dorrill.
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