LUFFS 3 KENILWORTH 1 (15/09/01) @ The Drome Loughborough jumped into second place with another win on saturday but not without being given a severe first half work out by bottom placed Kenilworth Town.   In the end the result was right and keeps the Loughborough side amonst the contenders but they were left saying what is this team doing at the bottom of the league, theye certainly didn't look relegation candidates in this first half at The Drome. The early presuure came from the visitors and they tested keeper Springthorpe three times in the opening minutes but he wasn't found wanting.  Loughborough had their moments, in fact after twenty minutes it good well have been three each, with Bell shooting just past the post and Bates coming close from long range.   But it was Kenilworth who had the bit between their teeth on this first half and defender Edwards had to make a timely tackle and Gunn used his turn of pace to catch a waywood forward. After twenty minutes Kenilworth got what they deserved as Gomez whacked the ball into the top corner to give his side the lead and the Loughborough were left with an up hill task to retrieve this game. A credit to the Loughborough side who applied themselves to the task and even in the first half began to out play their opponents with a passing game and came close to levelling the scores on a number of occasions.  Bell performed a scissor kick into the keepers arms and Paul O'Callaghan headed one just past the post.   Kenilworth had trouble with the pace of O'Callaghan and he made several penetrating runs down the left to deliver crosses which should have brought result.   The Kenilworth keeper Harman was given a fair bit to do in the latter stages of the first half and he did it well with bell in full flight and only the keeper to beat he made an excellent save. Loughborough threw the big men up for a series of corners and Edwards glanced one just past the post.   The best chance of the first half fell to Stuart Bell, yards from the keeper he failed to make good connection with a cross from Rogers and it remain nil one at half time. In the second half Loughborough stepped up the pace and played Kenilworth off the park but they weren't going to give up their lead easily and skipper Steve Mould registered their intention with a shot just past the post.   A near post header from O'Callaghan might have levelled the scores but keeper Harman saved well.   Manager Barrett rang the changes early in the half, on came Bryn Fowether in midfield and Ashley Harvey up front making his debut for the Loughborough club. Harvey was immediately into the action with a header just wide and the equalizer came shortly after.   Rogers surged into the Kenilworth penalty area and was unceremoniously brought down for a penalty, Loughborough have not had a good record with penalties but Paul O'Callaghan despatched this one well enough to level the scores.  The writing was on the wall for the visitors, Sean O'Callaghan hit a free kick just over and Harvey found the side netting from a Paul O'Callaghan cross.   Mould delvered a searching corner and Edwards hit the loose ball goalward but that man Harman was there again with a finger tip save. Kenilworth had a couple of moments on the break with Sewell and Carvell running a lonely battle up front but the Loughborough defence was sound with Gunn and Tebbutt clearing up efficiently and prompting further sustained attacks on the Kenilworth goal.   The new man Ash Harvey had signalled his intentions and then proceeded to do the business, first he took a cross from O'Callaghan and what to all and sundry looked a lost cause and whipped in his shot from the tightest of angles and the Kenilworth defender could only carry it over the line.  Two one and well in command at last the Loughborough side should have ran up the numbers, Harvey returned the compliment crossing for O'Callaghan to tap past the keeper but he blinded it over the bar.   Mould rounded two defenders and the keeper only to find another defender on the line to clear his shot Kenilworth never gave up the fight in defence. Pual Gunn in defence this week set of on a run from one end of the pitch to the other to give himself a scoring chance but a little tug of the shirt was enough to put him off his shot, the referee missed it, it would have been the goal of the game.  Pete Harvey found some space down the left and laid the ball nicely into the path of Harvey and it was three one and all over bar the shouting, not a bad debut a brace for the new striker with only a half  hour slice of the game, this Loughborough lad looks an exciting prospect.  A credit to the Kenilworth Town side they were still going at it at the death and when Gunn dwelled little bit too long on the ball they got a shot in just past the post.   This was a hard earned three points and a short sharp lesson that there are no soft touches in the Midland Combination. The Loughborough side now take two weeks off from league duty, this Saturday they travel to Bournville to take on Cadbury Athletic in the first round of the Mid Com Endsleigh Challenge Cup and the following saturday they return to The Drome to take on Anstey Town from the Leicestershire Senior League in the Jelson Homes Leicestershire Senior Cup first round(kick off 2.30).  But second place in the league with seventeen points is a fitting reward for the hard work put in the eight opening games of the season.