Results and Reports will appear here as they are filed.

Having gained promotion to the Surrey Youth League Premier Elite Division, Sunday afternoon saw Brockham Badgers U13As launch their challenge against a seasoned Sutton United.

The game started evenly. However a corner from Josh Brown, flicked on by Alex Nicholson, allowed William Bletso to open the scoring for the Badgers after twelve minutes. 

As so often happens, following the euphoria of a goal the Badgers were caught napping and Sutton equalised minutes later.  This served as a wake up call for the Badgers and a long ball from George Coffey allowed new signing Harry Ramsey to strike, forcing a diving save from the Sutton goalkeeper.  The rebound came to Josh Brown who was able to put Harry Ramsey through again - this time to score.

Following some excellent work from George Coffey, the ball again fell to Harry Ramsey who slotted it home to make the score 3-1.  The Badgers were by now camped in Sutton’s half and a goal mouth scramble allowed William Bletso to score his second of the day.

At 4-1 down, Sutton were far from defeated and a long range shot lobbed Matthew Batts despite his best efforts.  The game entered a period of sustained pressure from the opposition, forcing a magnificent save from Matthew Batts at full stretch. 

The Badgers were beginning to feel the strain and lose their shape, despite the tireless efforts of Liam Ratcliffe and Harvey Mewis in the centre of midfield.  However, they managed to hang on for the last minutes of the game and came out worthy winners.

Lad of the match:  William Bletso

Squad:  Matthew Batts, Harry Ramsey, Liam Ratcliffe, George Coffey, Harvey Mewis, Ben Sawyers, Ross Bangs, Josh Brown, William Mahoney, William Bletso, Matthew Higgins, Alex Nicholson, Harry Kensett

There was a mist in their eyes after a hard first week of secondary school and in the air after a chilly cloudless night. They rubbed their eyes twice as hard to clear their vision as they prepared to meet an unknown foe. Passing was slick and the brains alert as the U12Bs warmed up on a ground heavily soaked in dew with possibly their strongest team yet. But the soaking ball sliced dangerously off the boot as a warning of the challenge ahead.

At the whistle, the Badgers were the sharper of the two teams with good communication, direct passing and exciting movement off the ball. Toe to toe, the ball skipped across the slippery surface with Brockham making best use of the width of the pitch; Nathan Hughes on the left repeatedly leaving the East Grinstead defenders standing while he whipped in some accurate crosses.

It was Nathan’s imaginative throw-in that created the chance for Chris Walton to drive the ball into the net after three minutes but, two minutes later, the home team equalised and early euphoria evaporated like breath in the cold morning air.

Chris placed the Badgers ahead again on the tenth minute – a just reward for his direct and skilful attacks which earned him man-of-the-match after the final whistle. Two minutes later Cameron Boychuk’s direct drive through the centre was rewarded with a well deserved and thoughtful goal to place the visitors in a commanding position.

A clearance from the East Grinstead defence found Archie Knight at left back. He confidently drove the ball goalwards from his own half, it dived out of the sun at the desperate keeper and looped on the volley into the back of the net. The Badgers did not have it all their own way however and the defence was kept busy warding off numerous counter attacks from the stunned home team.

Nathan Hughes worked very hard on the left and showed speed, careful judgement and imaginative skill in drawing out the defence before putting in dangerous crosses. It was one of these that Steven Holmes gathered at the edge of the East Grinstead box and, with his customary calmness and skill, carried it through two defenders before beating the keeper and slotting in the Badgers’ fifth.

At half time the game seemed over and a combination of tiredness, over-confidence and a lack of concentration opened up a few gaps in midfield and defence which the East Grinstead boys exploited with delight. To their credit they never gave up and scored three times in twenty minutes to create a nail biting finish.

With the score at 4-5 Brockham reorganised and gathered their resources with a major contribution from James Rabetts and Luke Brightman who stretched the lead with a shot that blasted past the home keeper and lifted the top right hand corner off their net.

Two convincing wins in a row have given the U12Bs a great start in their campaign for honours this season. But they should not be over confident when East Grinstead come to the Big Field this week – they are not a team to take a defeat like that lying down.

Brockham boys were still rubbing their eyes at the final whistle – perhaps it was all a dream and it was really Friday and double maths........

GE: So Alfie - how do you think it went?
AE: Good.

GE: The score was 10-1?
AE: No...11-1!

GE: Some confusion then?
AE: My dad was the referee but fortunately somebody was paying attention
(thanks Will).

GE: Big score. What mental state of mental state did you adopt to create
such a victory?
AE: Eh?

GE: It was good to see Tom Kilner.
AE: He's good. He scored a cool goal.  He really thought about it.  We had
to close him down a lot in the second half with more players to stop him
catching up our score.

GE: Congratulations to you and your team for entertaining us with some
excellent football. 

Report ends.
(NB: Nobody was harmed during the making of this match report.)

After last week’s thrashing against Albury (13-1) this week’s game was much more even. We kept them at bay for the first quarter of the game then were unlucky to concede a few (4) goals in the second half of the first half. I can't remember much about the game apart from their number 18 walloping me on the shin but here goes...

Some gritty defending in the second half by Tom, Ed, Scott, Euan and Rhett restricted the opposition to three goals in the second half.  Brockham put together some good moves in the second half and started to play more as a team. Jamie, Oliver, Jacob, Harrison and Arran worked hard in midfield.

At this rate we should be on schedule for at least a draw within the next few games, we just need to wake up the strikers and start scoring some goals!

Man of the Match: Ed Hetzel for keeping the defence together throughout.