Rarely has the phrase a game of two halves been more pertinent to a match than this one between Brockham Badgers U12A and Epsom and Ewell Colts at the Big Field. The facts speak for themselves: Epsom and Ewell won the first half 2-0; Brockham won the second 6-0. As poorly as Badgers played in the first half, they were outstanding in the second, manager Simon Coffey describing it as the best thirty minutes they had played all season.

It was not too surprising that the home side took so long to get into their stride: with several key players away on half-term breaks, a fair bit of re-organisation was required. In particular, Harry Kensett came in for his debut to fill the not unsubstantial boots of sweeper Matt Higgins. Brockham seemed lethargic, missing out on possession that should have been theirs, and putting passes astray too often.

They paid for this after 18 minutes. An Epsom free kick 30 yards out was defended too deeply, and the ball was scrambled over the line. Harvey Mewis’s fine lob forced a very good save from the Colts’ keeper soon after, but the away side were largely dominant, strong in defence and passing the ball around with confidence.

Just on half time they deservedly extended their lead when the ball was lost in midfield and they scored after a shot came back off the bar.

It was easy at this point to imagine the three points would be lost, but what a transformation after the break! Brockham were on level terms after just six minutes. First, Oli Winter put a lovely ball through the defence for Josh Brown to run on to, carry into the area and score with a confident strike. Then, Will Mahoney became the provider with another fine ball though to Mewis from the half-way line. Like Brown, he ran strongly and finished emphatically over the keeper.

Traffic was largely one-way now. Mid-way through the half, George Coffey held the ball up well in the box and laid it off for Mewis, who finished coolly from 18 yards out. Epsom and Ewell looked stunned, and barely a minute later, Winter played another pin-point ball over the defence which Bertie Edwards-Hedges collected and placed sweetly in the corner for 4-2.

Harvey Mewis prefers to score in threes; he collected his third hatrick of the season with a simple finish after great work from George Coffey, forcing a cross over from the right by-line.

These two players were to share the Man of the Match award, presented by Nick Torpey, for their equally telling contributions to the victory. A special mention for Harry Kensett, who played very solidly in a demanding debut, and for Ollie Kong, who came on towards the end for his debut in attack and looked very lively. Another collector’s item to round off the 6-2 win: a second goal in two games for Alex Nicholson, this time with his left foot!

Team: Matthew Batts, Will Mahoney, Alex Nicholson, Harry Kensett, Angus Hodge, Josh Brown, Oli Winter, Harvey Mewis, Bertie Edwards-Hedges, George Coffey, Ben Knight-Sawyers, William Bletso, Ollie Kong.

The U11As A had too much pace up front for Bookham Colts B's as player of the week, Alex Flint, claimed a fine hat trick to set up a 7-1 victory.  Bookham’s play belied their position at the bottom of the Premier Division of the Epsom & Ewell league, often showing better passing skills than Brockham.  But they could not handle Flint, Jordan Martin and Sam Lloyd in attack and found it very hard to break down the tight Brockham defence.

Brockham started slowly, out-played by the Bookham midfield, but Bookham’s weaknesses were soon revealed.  Direct, early balls behind the Bookham defence gave Martin and Ashley Marshall good chances.  Next time, Flint showed pace and composure to outstrip the defence and place the ball in the corner of the net.  Two minutes later, Martin repeated the trick to double the score.  After more Brockham pressure, Martin turned provider with a beautiful far post cross which Flint headed in firmly.  Brockham rounded off the half in style as Martin reacted fastest in the box and scored from close range.

With the game won, Brockham continued in the same vein in the second half.  Marshall converted the first of his two good chances while Flint converted the second of his two.  But despite the scoreline, Brockham started to look untidy and invited Bookham back into the game.  Five minutes from the end a good cross and a fine glancing header caused confusion in the Brockham defence and gave Bookham a consolation goal. 

One final goal from Luke Brightman gave Brockham a well-deserved win.

Team: Cameron Wallis, George Gomes, Chris Walton, Alistair Masson, Luc Jhugroo, Tom Charman, Luke Brightman, Ashley Marshall (c), Lewis Wood, James Rabbetts, Jordan Martin, Sam Lloyd, Alex Flint, Nathan Hughes

A few minutes into the game Andy Kehl shot and it came off the keeper's hand and trickled in to the back of the net. Merstham took the centre, then slipped past Brockham defence and scored.  Dominic O’Brien took some great corner kicks but Will Hearn and Andrew Kehl couldn’t quite reach them to get to the ball in the back of the net. Andy shot again and this time it did go in. Louis Clark and Michael Tsmekis stifled Merstham’s attacking runs with confidence.

At the end of the first half the score was 2-1 to Brockham.

At the start of the second half Brockham played some lovely passing football leading to Andrew scoring again. Then Merstham scuffed the centre kick and gave it to Andy to run on to score yet another goal for Brockham.

Will Hearn, Sam Yeomans, Dom O’Brien and Ollo Hounsfield took control of the midfield against some strong attacking play from Merstram. Having kept goal soundly Ben Giles played out pitch for the last ten minutes of the game.

Sam Yeomans volunteered to go in goal and made a fantastic save in the first minute. After a short goal kick Merstham tackled Brockham, shot, and unfortunately it bounced off Sam’s arm and into the net.

At the end of match the score was 4-2 to Brockham. Overall, Brockham’s defence was very strong and the midfield players kept the pressure on Merstham for the whole match. With Lewis Evans on holiday, Andy’s mum took over the coaching role, which was very much appreciated by the boys and parents. Tricia led the team to victory.  Thank you to Nick Tsmekis for refereeing the match.

The U10C team lost 5-0 to Twickenham Tigers but they are the best team we could ever play. Last time we did lose 18-0, which shows how good they are.  The time before that we lost 4-0.

The first half was the best and part of the second half, because it was 0-0.  We battled really hard, non-stop.  They scored one goal and then scored four more because we were out of breath.

Charlie and Bailey worked really hard to defend Twickenham’s goals. Rhet had a few great tries at scoring but just missed. We all played really well as a team!  We are really determined to win a game, maybe next week to Molesley Juniors.

KEEP UP THE TEAM SPIRIT – WE’RE GONNA WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From the blow of the whistle, Brockham played with grit and determination – the best football they have played. A blinding save from goalie Jacob Vaughan, a quick ball out to Matthew Ford, he found Chris Collis who squared the ball for Kemal Dogansoy - whose boot made no mistake in finding the back of the net.

Brockham’s passing game showed fluency with good linking by Dogansoy and Leo Ruff. Holmbury pressed on but to no avail as the strong defensive skills of Edward Denham and Jamie Donegan let nothing through. At the other end, a Holmbury goal kick went straight to Dogansoy, who spotted Matthew Ford in a better position to double the Brockham lead.

The second half saw just as much excitement. Ford made a solo run but his powerful shot was saved by the keeper; Holmbury counter attacked and, after Brockham failed to clear in the goalmouth, the home side pulled the score line back to 2-1.

Brockham picked up the tempo. Dogansoy hammered up the wing and put in a cross but Collis and Fletcher King couldn’t quite convert their shots. A breakthrough by Holmbury was met by Vaughan who was in control of his goal.

The win was sealed from a corner. Dogansoy swung in the kick, and when the ball came back out to him, he cued up Collis who tapped in Brockham’s third for three, well deserved points.

Man of the match: Matthew Ford - for an all round performance.