Kenilworth Wardens held on to claim a vital three points in a seven-goal thriller against fellow promotion hopefuls Triumph Athletic Reserves.

Wardens started the day with 29 points from 14 games, with Triumph trailing by five points but bolstered by three games in hand.

The visitors knew they would need to win their two remaining games of the season if they were to have any hope of finishing second in the Coventry Alliance Division One.

Wardens dominated the play in the early exchanges and got their reward after five minutes.

After good build up play, the ball went to Dan Twigger who turned and played a brilliant through ball to Ben Edmunds to slot home calmly - his eight goal in just four games this season.

Wardens continued to dominate the opening exchanges and doubled their lead on 20 minutes.

After another good passing spell, Eamonn Richards passed to Guy Pearson on the right hand side. Pearson cut past two players before striking the ball past the keeper at the near post from 20 yards.

Ten minutes later Pearson turned provider. After another good 15 passes in the build up, Pearson beat two players before laying off to Luca Valle. Valle struck his trademark long range shot into the near post, scoring his ninth goal of the year.

Triumph pulled one back minutes later, a miscommunication at the back allowed the Triumph wide player to pass into an open net.

With the score 3-1 at half time Wardens knew they'd need to see the game out and try and score the important fourth goal.

Triumph dominated possession in the second period, without creating any chances for Andy Whitehouse to save.

Wardens continued to hit on the break with both Edmunds and Pearson knowing they should have added to their tallies.

On 80 minutes Wardens did finally score from one of their many chances. Phil Rudd swept a ball out wide to Pearson, who beat two players before hammering past the Triumph keeper for his second of the game and his 24th of the campaign.

Five minutes later after building pressure, a wayward shot from the Triumph striker hit Rudd and diverted past Andy Whitehouse to give the hosts hope.

Following this, Edmunds had a one-on-one chance to seal the game, but was unable to get the ball under control with the keeper making a good save.

Now realising they could get something from the game, Triumph began to build pressure and with two minutes left on the clock scored a goal from a corner.

But Kenilworth held on to claim a vital three points, to the relief of player-manager Richards.

"First 30 minutes we played some great football, not perfect, but we fully deserved to be 3-0 up," he said.

"We made three made defensive errors today and to be fair to Triumph, they punished each of them.

"I felt we managed the second half really well and took the sting out the game, obviously disappointing not to score our many chances and conceding soft goals.

"But we played against a experienced and technical good Triumph side needing to win and we did, so couldn't be happier"

Kenilworth Wardens are proudly sponsored by LPC Sports Therapy and Yoga.

Lead-therapist Lily is a Level Four qualified sports massage therapist and yoga Practitioner, specialising in anxiety support.

Lily is trained to diagnose injuries, rehabilitate, and is fully recommended by players of Kenilworth Wardens.