Brockham had given Ashurst a real run for their money in their cup semi final the week before this game, but knew they were up against it at the current league champions.

For the first half, Brockham defended well, captain and keeper Henry Warne and centre backs Tom Bletso and lad of the match Jack Hunt doing really well against a very good side; while Bill Rowlands and Dylan Peters again showed the competitive spirit required to lift Badgers clear of the relegation spots in the final six games. 

Although the home side did score after twenty minutes to take a 1-0 half time lead, Badgers went into the interval in optimistic fashion.

Within minutes of the restart, striker Stephen Kehl was inches away from latching on to a Warne clearance and equalising - but from that point onwards Badgers hardly got a look in.  A second goal for the home side seven minutes into the half seemed to knock the self belief out of some of the Brockham players and, despite the best efforts of Warne in goal, Ashurst were able to add four more goals, spread pretty evenly throughout the rest of the game.

Badgers now need to regroup ahead of six games during the final three weeks of the season.

Team: Henry Warne (c), Bill Rowlands, Alex Postles, Matt Gill, Tom Bletso, Jack Hunt, Dylan Peters, Michael Carty, Ben Stokoe, Stephen Kehl, Ollie Legg, Ryan Winter

Brockham Badgers U13 Black rounded off a solid season with a comfortable win over Northchapel. After last year’s promotion, they finish in the higher league in fifth place – raising hopes of even better things next term.

Northchapel had come to Brockham having a good record, pushing many of the league’s top teams in close games, and this turned out to be one of the visitors heaviest defeats, an indication of how well Badgers played today.

Good work by Tim Hopkins on seven minutes saw him drive into the box for leading scorer Ollie Curtis to net from close range. Curtis then returned the favour in a near identical goal five minutes later.  With George Corfield again confident in goal and David Atkinson playing with real assurance at the heart of the Brockham defence, Badgers were bossing the game. Captain Connor Mitchell and Toby Dowle in right midfield were dominant as Northchapel were pushed on to the back foot.  Full backs Tom Kinsey and Max Ruff were playing well and with confidence as Brockham looked to finish the season strongly.

Curtis then scored a good third goal with a run from distance, and Badgers went into the interval with a well deserved 3-0 lead. The second period saw Northchapel have more possession, but Brockham were still on top, and it was only a matter of time before the lead was extended. Left midfielder George Heymann scored a really good goal as he beat three players to the ball, drove into the box and chipped the oncoming keeper for a final score of 4-0.

Team: George Corfield, Tom Kinsey, Max Ruff, Sam Norkett, David Atkinson, Toby Dowle, Alex Marshall, Connor Mitchell (c), Henry Smith, Ollie Curtis, Tim Hopkins, Robbie Ventham, George Heymann

When the U12As went to Kingstonian Youth Royals for the reverse fixture back in September, Brockham battled to a 3-1 win in atrocious conditions. Six months on, there was no change as an icy wind blew a persistent drizzle across the Big Field. There was no change either to the outcome, Badgers this time recording an ultimately emphatic 4-0 victory.

The conditions seemed to dull the creative juices of both teams in the first half, with few clear-cut chances created at either end. Brockham dominated the opening quarter, Harvey Mewis seeing his long-range effort pushed onto the bar by Kingstonian’s valiant keeper. The visitors then began to compete on equal terms, putting together some good passing moves without testing Matt Batts in the Brockham goal, but ending the half looking capable of getting a result.

Badgers had other ideas once the second half was under way. Pouring forward almost from the whistle, another Mewis shot was once again kept out by the Royals’ keeper, but only into the path of Josh Brown, who scored from a very tight angle. Soon after, Brockham added a second in a flowing move originating from a superb Matt Higgins goal kick which found George Coffey free on the left. He played in Ben Knight-Sawyers, whose excellent cross was converted by Mewis for a well-deserved goal.

Coffey was in brilliant form, beating defenders at will with great footwork, and his mazy run down the right led to the third goal. His cross found Brown at the far post, who unselfishly set up Oli Winter, relieved to score his first of the season with a strike from the edge of the box. Coffey added a fourth, and there was still time for Badgers to go close on several occasions.

This was a great team performance, with battling contributions from defenders Will Mahoney, Ross Bangs and Higgins, midfielder Liam Ratcliffe and lad of the match William Bletso, who filled in admirably at centre back, never putting a foot wrong.

Kingstonian played some good football, and could have scored a couple of times in the second half, and look a better team than their league position suggests. With four games remaining, Brockham are still in contention for the title.

Team: Matthew Batts, Will Mahoney, Matt Higgins, Ross Bangs, Josh Brown, Oli Winter, Harvey Mewis, Liam Ratcliffe, George Coffey, Ben Knight-Sawyers, William Bletso, Dan Hetzel, Harry Kensett.

Last time out the Badgers celebrated winning the league title with a plastic cup. This week they had an early Easter present courtesy of sponsors, Polypipe, who provided all the lads with a celebration Easter egg after the match.

Playing against a plucky East Grinstead side, two men short, the Badgers took twenty minutes to finally break through with Jamie Hanwell converting a fine cross by Daniel Hall. Ed Newman added the second with a powerful strike from outside the box to give a 2-0 advantage at half time.

Kicking down hill and with the East Grinstead lads tiring, the Badgers ran in another five goals in the second half with strikes from Tom Moriarty, Harry Kensett, Mike Ellis, and two from the top scorer, Ollie Kong.

Alex Dean, Luka Killner and Tom Barnes all put in fine performances at the back, protecting the goalkeeper well to ensure a clean sheet. Dan Baty had his best match of the season, and was unfortunate not to score from the spot after being upended in the box.

Once again, the match was conducted in fine spirit with both teams playing some very good football.

Lad of the match: Michael Ellis playing in an unaccustomed outfield position. When his goal went in every team member, even the makeshift goalie, ran over to congratulate him. Well done Mike!

Recent Brockham encounters had yielded little more than a promise of good things to come, but this game had it all: pulsating action, eye popping skills and goals galore. Not one to be missed.

Right from the kick off it was breathless stuff. Both sides started the game in top gear and within seconds Watson took a first pop at goal. From there on the ball was constantly up and down the field, feeding two attack minded sides.

On four minutes Watson and Turner played off each other well and set up Teague to slide the ball narrowly wide. This was a taste of things to come and the cohesive Brockham team work that had been developing recently now sparked to life. On eight minutes Turner delivered a corner straight onto the post that left everyone surprised. The game produced its first goal on eleven minutes as Tadworth found a way through Brockham’s back line to neatly slide the ball home.

However, Brockham were back in contention only three minutes later when Morland slotted in the equaliser. He got a taste for blood and was at it again straight after the restart. He picked up a loose ball and belted an unstoppable shot to make it 2-1.

The invention, and at times intuitively accurate passing took Brockham’s play to new heights and it was only a matter of time before more goals followed. Once again, Turner was producing elaborate footwork and Purcell was always in the thick of the action. As the half was about to finish Watson fed Morland another opportunity, which he buried into the net before the keeper had time to move. With one last kick of the first period, Warne attempted a ludicrously ambitious shot from the half way line that came very close indeed to adding to Brockham’s total – but, at half-time, the Badgers led 3-1.

The blistering pace and, at times, remarkable control and vision continued after the interval. Brockham took more and more control with a team display right out of the top drawer. The second half was all of four minutes old when a long range clearance from Bennett was pursued by Watson, who shook off a defender’s challenge and showed great composure to fire home number four for the visitors.
 
The Badgers’ tally was added to only two minutes later when Purcell won a stray ball in the Tadworth area and rifled in a superb left foot shot. No sooner had the game restarted when Morland hit an aerial cross for Teague to climb and fling himself at and send it to the top corner for number six.

Tadworth were not in this for the ride though and showed commendable football of their own, responding to Brockham’s verve with equal commitment. Despite the sometimes frantic play, at the back Bennett, Warne and the solid Killick were equal to anything coming their way and stayed in control of their territory.

On thirteen minutes Brockham’s seventh goal came, after Turner and Teague broke together and forced the ball into Tadworth’s area where a ricochet was met by Morland to knock in his fourth of the day. The game was drawing to a close when Warne stepped up with a powerful volley that whistled over the bar. There was still one last piece of action to round off the day, when Turner’s shot came back off the keeper and left the predatory Teague with an easy chance to wrap the match up at 8-1.

A memorable match and Brockham deserve praise for their display but Tadworth also deserve mention for their willingness to make a game of it.

Man of the Match: Zak Morland

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

Brockham knew this was going to be a tough match as Albury, the league leaders, have only dropped three points all season.

Brockham started off on the back foot as an immediate Albury attack caught them by surprise and led to an early lead.

But Brockham fought back. Jamie Donegan showed presence with a great pass into Leo Ruff who passed the ball into the stride of Matthew Ford. Ford linked with Kemal Dogansoy whose pulsating shot was superbly saved by the Albury keeper.

Then a good counter attack by the Griffins extended their lead to 2-0. Towards the end of the half, Brockham lost their momentum and Albury took a 3-0 lead into the interval.

Brockham knew they had lots of work to do and upped their tempo for the second half. Good interplay by Ford and Dogansoy saw both players test the Albury goalie but it was not meant to be. Alex Finn kept Albury at bay at the back, stopping them getting through and giving his team a chance to come back.

Brockham played their heart out, the ball rarely leaving Albury’s half, but each chance had an unlucky ending. Every player gave a gusty performance and can hold their head high as the quality of football was superb. Unfortunately this did not show in the final result.

Man of the match: Alex Finn, showing his presence in defence.

Team: Appleton, Collis, Dogansoy, Donegan, A Finn, Ford, King, Ruff, Vaughan

Brockham Badgers U8 Black squad faced the daunting task of two matches on Saturday morning, with the first against the only team that had beaten them all season, St Josephs. 

It was a shaky start for both sides, as both were in with a chance to win the title.  Brockham were the first to settle and a foiled attack by St Joseph’s gave Issberner the chance to bring the ball out from deep defence past several players.  He sped up the right hand side before crossing perfectly to Austin, whose first touch was pure class sending the ball into the back of the net.

Both teams then applied pressure in turn and some solid defending by Brockham’s Glenn and Fairley stopped the St Josephs advances.  Further pressure from Brockham resulted in a defencive mix up and they were perhaps fortunate that the ball ended up in the net off a St Josephs player for a 2-0 half time lead.

The second half saw a flurry of attacks from St Josephs and only some excellent keeping from Torpey and some fortunate blocking on the line prevented St Josephs from scoring.  There was some great movement and passing by the Brockham midfield with Stimpson, Hurst and Issberner finding space and giving the St Josephs defence plenty of challenges.  

This continued pressure from Brockham enabled Austin to add a second before the final whistle.  Brockham took all the points with a well deserved 3 - 0 victory.  (Man of the match: Max Austin).

Into the second game against Holmbury and the young Badges knew that a draw would be good enough, however they clearly didn’t intend to settle for that.  

Kail and Simister joined the fray with fresh legs and provided a solid midfield upon which to build frequent attacks.  It wasn’t long before the pressure paid off and Brockham went a goal up when Torpey powered through and placed the ball through the keeper's legs.   

Brockham continued to pile on the pressure and an excellent through ball from Issberner sent Austin scurrying up the pitch before slotting the ball home.  

The second half was a tense affair, with Brockham legs clearly beginning to tire from their busy morning.  However, they managed to keep a second clean sheet to win the match 2 – 0.

This has been an excellent season for the young Badgers.  As the games progressed it was a pleasure to see so many different qualities emerge from the squad of ten.   Towards the end of the season there were many promising signs as they began to improve their movement and pass, rather than hold on to the ball for too long.  We look forward to even better things next season!

Team: Paddy Doyle, Harry Fairley, Callum Glenn, Justin Hurst, Joseph Issberner, Oliver Kail, Jed Simister, Chloe Stimpson, Aidan Torpey, Max Austin

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BROCKHAM GIRLS
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