Brockham Badgers U12A hadn’t played a match for three weeks and were missing three key players for their penultimate league match of the season and, despite taking an early lead, not surprisingly took their time to really dominate their opponents.
Playing on the Dorking FC pitch, manager Simon Coffey moved Matt Higgins from his habitual centre back position into central midfield, with Harry Kensett coming in at the back and, on ten minutes, Josh Brown opened the scoring, shooting high over the keeper.
For the rest of the half, Badgers found it hard to break down a fairly packed Cannons defence, but just before the break they scored their second and best goal, George Coffey playing a superb ball for Bertie Edwards-Hedges to run onto and place low into the corner of the net with a confident finish.
The second half was a more one-sided display. The Brockham back four were solid throughout and Higgins and Liam Ratcliffe made a strong pairing in midfield. Ratcliffe was a bundle of energy from start to finish, chasing down every ball, and was rightly named lad of the match. On the flanks, Brown and Edwards-Hedges were constant threats.
Just three minutes into the second period, Coffey pounced in the box to make it 3-0 after the keeper spilled a William Bletso shot. Soon after, Coffey and Brown saw successive shots come back off the bar but a valiant Cannons team, with no subs to call on, held out until the last eight minutes when the floodgates opened and Brockham added a further four goals.
First, Dan Hetzel nicked in to score at close range following an excellent ball forward by Will Mahoney, then Coffey deservedly scored his second, skilfully setting himself up for a shot. Edwards-Hedges grabbed his second from a corner, and Hetzel became the third player to grab a brace with a fine effort in the last minute.
This convincing 7-0 victory puts Brockham back to the top of the table. If they can take one point from their final showdown at Wandgas next week, they will be Champions.
Team: Matthew Batts, Will Mahoney, Matt Higgins, Alex Nicholson, Ross Bangs, Josh Brown, Liam Ratcliffe, Bertie Edwards-Hedges, George Coffey, William Bletso, Dan Hetzel, Angus Hodge, Harry Kensett.
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