Brockham Badgers U13 Black lost for the first time in a while in a competitive, entertaining match against league leaders Roffey Robins Athletic - Roffey scoring late on to take the points in a keenly contested fixture.

Roffey had won all their games this season, but Brockham were a match for the leaders, showing how strongly the side is developing. Determined performances from Toby Dowle in centre midfield and David Atkinson at centre back led the way for the Badgers.

Roffey had already forced Brockham keeper George Corfield into some fine saves before a failure to clear the ball and indecision in the heart of the Brockham defence gave the visitors the lead with a strike from close range.

But Brockham responded immediately with Ollie Curtis doing well to take the ball to the by-line before cutting it back to Dowle who had timed his run perfectly. Dowle’s inch perfect side foot from the edge of the box nestled into the Roffey goal. 

Badgers were on top now but, against the run of play, a fine goal from the visitors saw them regain the lead five minutes before the interval – a Roffey striker hammering home a cross on the run.

Once more Badgers came back to equalise. This time sub William Bletso spun away from his marker and hit a shot across the keeper, which found the net despite the valiant attempts of a covering defender.

The second half continued in similar vein, Roffey perhaps shading the chances in the first twenty minutes, but Brockham looking dangerous with Henry Smith and Ollie Legg breaking at every opportunity from left and right wing.  With ten minutes to go, Roffey gained a corner, and the ball fell invitingly to a Roffey player on the edge of the box. The resulting shot proved unstoppable despite yet another solid goalkeeping display from second half keeper Connor Mitchell.

Brockham pressed for the equaliser, but Roffey held on to gain the points. But Brockham had given the leaders a real run for their money, which bodes well for the rest of the season

Horsham began the strongest in this very entertaining game and dominated the proceedings for the first five minutes, Brockham taking this time to find their feet and stamp their authority.

The breakthrough came after ten minutes when Dan Crook had a snap shot on the edge of the area which took a vicious bobble on it's way to jump over the diving Horsham keeper. This spurred the Badgers on and a second followed quickly from Jamie Hanwell with a shot-cum-cross which managed to creep over the line.

Brockham were now the dominant force and wave after wave of attacks were repelled by quite a strong Horsham defence until Tom Moriarty was fouled in the penalty area. This would have been a certain penalty but the ref played the advantage for Ollie Kong to gather up the loose ball and coolly shoot home.

The second half started as the first had finished but with Brockham kicking uphill. A clearance from Tom Barnes came to the feet of Tim Hines who laid on a perfect ball through the middle for Ollie King to run on to. With two defenders and a goalkeeper rushing at him, he still managed to make time to skip through the defenders and delicately chip into the net over the goalie. A third for Ollie soon followed with a lovely finish cutting back in from the right. So - yet another hatrick for him.

Brockham then eased off the pressure and Horsham saw this as a chance to step it up. They had a free kick hit the bar, a shot hit the post, and there were a couple of superb saves from our 'keeper, Michael Ellis, one of which was a one-on-one situation.

On another day it could have been five goals each, but poor finishing and bad luck for Horsham made it Brockham's day.

Another match and another win keeps us top of the table by quite a margin. The League is now ours for the taking and, having played all of the opposition at least once, we know what to expect and can only throw it away ourselves through overconfidence and 'gung-ho' matchplaying.

Player of the day was Tom Barnes. He started a move for one of the goals, his positioning is getting better with every game, he shows good solid tackling and always gives 100%.

After a shaky start, the U11As built a dominating position against Netherne Falcons and deserved their comfortable 3-1 win.

All too often Brockham start their matches slowly and again, for the first few minutes, they looked lethargic.  Netherne took advantage.  The Brockham defence failed to clear the ball from a corner and a Netherne attacker gave goalkeeper James Rabbetts no chance from the edge of the area.

But Brockham always carry a threat.  William Pereira delivered a pinpoint curled pass from the left which gave Jordan Martin a free run on goal.  His pace took him away from the defence and he scored calmly.

For the first twenty minutes, Netherne controlled the midfield and used space productively.  But gradually Brockham established some cohesion.  The back four, supported by a very secure Rabbetts, gained more composure and started defending further up the pitch. In central midfield, Ashley Marshall and player of the week, Lewis Wood, cut off Netherne possession..

Manager Jason Rabbetts was pleased that Brockham’s training started to bear fruit.  Throughout the game, Brockham’s corners were very threatening.  Ten minutes before half time a corner led to chances for Martin and Sam Lloyd before Luke Brightman lashed the ball into the roof of the net.

When Martin scored from a narrow angle just after half time, Brockham were secure and dominated the rest of the game.

At their best, Brockham played ambitious, fast, one touch football which Netherne found hard to defend.  With a similar focus on composure and simple passing under pressure, Brockham would have been even more effective.

Player of the Week: Lewis Wood.

Captain's Comment:
"Brockham started 1-0 down to Netherne Falcons A team, in the space of ten minutes but came back to win 3-1. We all played well, with some excellent defending in the first half.  Man of the match was Lewis Wood. He played some fantastic balls through to Sam and Jordan.  James made some excellent saves."
Ashley Marshall

Team: Cameron Boychuk, Luke Brightman, Tom Charman,  Luc Jhugroo, Sam Lloyd, Ashley Marshall (c),  Jordan Martin, Alistair Masson, William Pereira, James Rabbetts, Chris Walton, Lewis Wood

The Badgers have been wounded by six Vipers’ strikes in the last two meetings, so a one-all draw was a welcome result this week.

It didn’t come easily.  Any overconfidence that Storrington may have suffered from, evaporated like warm breath in icy air as the Badgers started sharply, probing down both wings and through the centre. The Vipers also looked dangerous with confident counter-attacking throughout the first half and they took the lead after twenty minutes, having broken down the Badgers’ defences for the first time.

Brockham heads did not drop, no-one muttered ‘here we go again’. Gritted teeth, stiffened sinews, bold blood, renewed resolve. Five minutes later Charlie Marquesee received a ball straight from defence and hooked a shot from the right touchline which bounced over the outstretched Storrington keeper for an equaliser. We needed it. We had worked hard for it.

There were no goals in the second half but it was a breathtaking performance. Steve McLaren should have been there to see why tens of thousands are still enjoying watching and playing the beautiful game after last Wednesday’s dismalities. End to end, side to side, throw ins and passionate tackles followed one after the other as both teams stretched every fibre for that marginal advantage. If it had been a win for either side it would have been a harsh result. The Brockham boys can now add ‘Pride’ to that growing list of Ps: passion, position, possession, passing, positive thinking.

Quote of the week: “Winning is not everything, but wanting to win is.”
Vincent T Lombardi.

Man of the Match: Charlie Marquesee, goalscorer.

From the start, the pace was lively with both sides clearly set to attacking mode. First attempts went to Brockham when Morland shot in the opening few seconds, followed by a challenging strike by Teague a minute later, that whistled narrowly wide.

Well drilled organisation in the midfield and defences was on the menu and some intelligent manoeuvring was needed to get the breakthrough. This was not going to be a game of ‘hit and hope’ balls.

The visitors had their moments but the incentive was with Brockham. We had Morland, Watson and Teague all creating opportunities to pot the opener and, with three minutes of the half still on the clock, Killick belted an ambitiously high ball forward from his own half that was not that far wide of the goal. Turner and Watson worked beaver like and the Badgers were closing down the opposition early to quell any potential danger.

Although Brockham were in the ascendency for most of the first period, the half ended with Warne and co holding ground at the back to sweep away a run of Woodmansterne corners.

We were still within the first minute of the second half  when Morland set off for goal at a blistering pace but saw his attempt turned out for a corner. Two minutes later he fired a powerfully hit free kick from the edge of the area that took a deflection and flew into the net -  1-0 to Brockham.

But the lead lasted all of three minutes as the home team were caught unawares. A Woodmansterne forward crept into a goal scoring position behind Brockham’s defence to shoot home from close range.

The high work rate continued and Brockham lost a little of their composure as the away side began to make more of themselves. The pressure was now on and Brockham’s resilience was called upon to stem a tide of offensives. In the thirteenth minute Bennett pulled off a match saving stop from very close range to keep the score level.

Then a clearance from a Woodmansterne corner set Morland on a tour de force sprint at goal to power home the winner five minutes before the final whistle.

Brockham saw out the final few minutes with more positive football and continued to look dangerous with Purcell and Tiley endeavouring to keep the Badgers on top with further forays forward. It all made for an entertaining morning of football.

Man of the Match: Zak Morland

Team: Daniel Killick, Joe Teague, Zak Morland, Oliver Turner, Rufus Watson, George Warne, James Bennett, Wilbur Tiley, Jake Purcell

Both teams seamed a bit slow to start as the cold set into their bodies, but it was not long before a poor goal kick by Walton was picked up by Dogansoy who fired a belter - only to see his shot go wide.

Good attacking play kept the ball in Walton’s half. An accurate pass by King saw Dogansoy with another chance, his shot again going just wide.

Walton pressed forward as Brockham were still recovering from their two near misses but Vaughan, being well aware made a brilliant save in the Badgers’ goal.

He rolled the ball out quickly to Donegan who fired up the left wing and gained Brockham’s first corner. From the kick, Dogansoy stepped up only to find the goalie’s hands.

Brockham were totally in control of the game now with their precise tackling and passing – and praise has to go to Walton’s goalie for keeping his team in the game. But, from a Walton throw, there was uncertainty in the Brockham defence and, with a few too many bodies in the way of Vaughan, it was difficult for him to see the ball roll over the line for Walton’s first goal.

Brockham carried on attacking, with good midfield play by Finn and Appleton, and by the end of the half the Badgers had lost count of the number of shots that could have been goals.

The second half saw more of the same. A good solid clearance off the line by Dogansoy found Finn, who controlled the ball and passed back to Dogansoy. He fed an accurate ball across to Collis, who made no mistake this time, levelling the score at 1-1.

Each team pressed on to find the winning goal. A crunching tackle on Donegan left him worse off. Brockham’s concern at their team mate did them no favours as Walton took advantage of the loss of concentration and slotted in their second.

The last five minutes saw Brockham play their hearts out but the whistle blew to bring about a narrow win for Walton.

Man of the match: Jamie Finn for precise passing and good control.

On a bitterly cold morning the young Badgers went about their warm up routine with more purpose than the previous week.  Back on their home pitch there was an air of expectation, following the disappointing performance the week before.

It was quickly evident that the slow start of the previous game appeared to have been a one off.  The youngsters had a point to prove and were off from the whistle.  It didn’t take long before first goal came.  Brockham surged forward with Justin Hurst feeding the ball through the middle to birthday boy and captain Joseph Issberner, who promptly planted the ball in the net (1-0).

Another positive attack followed, earning a corner, which was delivered by Hurst.  The defence tried to clear it, but only as far as Brockham’s Max Austin who promptly drilled it high into the back of the net (2-0).  Further pressure followed, earning yet another corner.  This time Hurst put in the cross which was met by the boot of Issberner, who slotted the ball into the back of the net, just inside the left hand post (3-0).  

Holmbury’s number 8 initiated an excellent move up the right hand side – surging passed the Brockham defence.  It took a great tackle by Callum Glenn to put the ball out.  Continued pressure bought a well deserved goal for the Holmbury Team (3-1), who were in no mood to give up, as half time approached.

Early in the second half Oliver Kail took the ball up the pitch for Brockham, with his shot being well saved by the Holmbury keeper, only for Issberner to pounce on the rebound and score (4-1).

Holmbury then applied more pressure in the Badgers' goalmouth with a shot forcing Callum Glenn to produce an excellent save, using his knee to clear the ball.

The continued Holmbury offensive gave the Badgers the opportunity to start a move from defence up the left hand side, with Chloe Stimpson passing several players before releasing the ball to Hurst, who drew the defenders before poking the ball through a gap to Max Austin, who went on to score – an excellent move (5-1).

Aidan Torpey had another determined game.  He and Issberner produced a number of solid runs from defence, not scared to take on several players at a time.  Kail worked tirelessly in midfield and, even though the smallest player on the park, put in tackle after tackle.  He made the man of the match decision an easy one! 

It was exciting for the many spectators to witness the young team looking for passing options and using them.  There was also good movement into space to receive the ball.  Perhaps the next focus will be a little more marking at set pieces.

Team: Chloe Stimpson, Joseph Issberner (captain), Aidan Torpey, Oliver Kail, Max Austin, Justin Hurst, Callum Glenn, Paddy Doyle

Man of the match: Oliver Kail

There were two additional matches played on Saturday.  The first was a well fought contest with the Badgers Harry Fairley (captain) and Jed Simister putting in very strong performances.  The first match was won by the Badgers 4-1 and the second was a great battle, ending 2-2.  .

Team 1 - Jed Simister, Harry Fairley (captain), Paddy Doyle, Ibi Ali, Miles Fin, Cameron Swayne, Theo Edwards, Felix Tiley

Team 2 - Zain Khan, Luke Morris, Joshua Packham, Jack Sherwood, James Brown, Patrick Scarr, Chris Drew (captain), Tony Cooper

RELATED PAGES

Previous Matchday

Matchday Archive

LEAGUE TABLES & FIXTURES

CODES OF CONDUCT
Brockham Badgers prides itself on creating the right atmosphere for youth football to flourish.
We have separate Codes of Conduct for Players, Parents and Managers.
These will be rigorously enforced.
Click here to read your Code of Conduct....

CAN YOU HELP?
Why just watch the matches?
Brockham Badgers has 350 players and some exciting plans for the future - and we need help from more parents to be able to achieve them.
Click here for more....

BROCKHAM GIRLS
Brockham Badgers is keen to promote the development of Girls' Football in Surrey. Pictures from our first season of league action are here.

See pictures and details from the U9s and U10s first ever tour - to the Battle of Hastings Tournament in 2006.
Click here...
Click here for more....