Brockham Badgers U15As climbed to second in the league with a narrow win over Heron Olympic, the visitors feeling with some justification that they should have got at least a point from this encounter.

Heron started the stronger but Brockham took an early lead following a counter attack, Lad of the Match  Liam Doyle's cross-cum-shot sailing over the keeper and into the far corner of the net. 

Heron kept playing nice football, without really troubling Connor Mitchell in the Brockham goal - Mitchell again having a commanding game for Badgers. Just before half time it was 2-0 to Brockham, a sweetly struck effort from Stephen Kehl from the edge of the box finding the net.

Heron came out in a determined mood early in the second half and had soon pulled a goal back. For a time Heron were in the ascendency, but a third goal for the home side from Henry Hill secured the points for Badgers.

Despite Heron hitting the woodwork, Brocham held on to claim the win.

Scoop Lad of the Match: Liam Doyle

Squad: Connor Mitchell, Tim Hopkins, Henry Smith, Joe Parker, Tom Bletso (c), Jack hunt, Ollie Smith, Michael Carty, Henry Hil, Liam Doyle, Ollie Legg, Stephen Kehl.

Brockham Badgers U14A went out of the League Cup at the first hurdle, beaten convincingly by AFC Wimbledon on the Big Field.

Going with a bold 3-5-2 formation, Badgers needed a strong start, but a penalty conceded and despatched in the first minute was not part of the script and, from then on, Brockham were chasing the game.

On eight minutes, keeper Dennis Rapson made a superb one-handed save at full stretch to deny Wimbledon a second and, within a minute, Badgers had almost equalised, strikers Chris Brooks and Harry Ramsey combining well in the home side’s best move of the match.

These two were a handful for the Dons’ defence throughout with their pace and hunger for goal, earning them the joint Lad of the Match award.

Unfortunately Brockham were not so strong in other areas of the pitch, finding the pace and aggression of the visitors too much to handle, and at the break they were two down.

A minute into the second period Wimbledon hit a post and, by the 55th minute, they had added two more goals with some cool finishing, despite Badgers reverting to four at the back.

Ramsey earned a consolation penalty five minutes from time which he converted well but, on the day, AFC were just too strong and Brockham not quite on their game.

Squad: Dennis Rapson, Will Mahoney, Matt Higgins, Ross Bangs, William Bletso, Josh Brown, Oli Winter, Liam Ratcliffe, Harvey Mewis, Jack Wyllie, Mike Richardson, George Coffey, Harry Ramsey, Chris Brooks.

Brockham Badgers entertained Wolves in another thrilling encounter at the Big Field with a last minute goal settling the game for the second consecutive home match.

This time the honour fell fittingly to Jack Heaselwood who had persevered throughout the full 70 minutes and, ironically, it was one of his lesser efforts that found the net, under the body of the Wolves goalkeeper. The goal came after fine work by Hodge and Hanwell breaking up a Wolves attack and sweeping the ball forward.

Earlier, in the first half, Jack scored with a perfect chip over the goalkeeper to give Brockham the 2-1 advantage towards the end of the first half. His goal was wiped out in the second half by a beautiful equaliser from Wolves, with a terrific drive from 25 yards fizzing past Tom Wells in the Brockham goal.

Throughout the match, the Wolves forwards had frequently looked dangerous and showed a good turn of speed. And with Harry Kensett out with fractured toes, it fell to Dan Hetzel to play the sweeper role, and this he did to great effect. With Rory Gale and Ollie Kong playing in front to break up the attacks where they could, Hetz played confidently, reading the game and clearing well, and was ably supported on his flanks by Luka Killner and Ed Newman.

In the first half, Brockham had taken the lead when Tim Hines provided the cross for Angus Hodge to open the scoring, but Wolves were soon to draw level in an evenly matched contest, despite Brockham’s one man advantage.

As the second half wore on, and the advantage began to tell, Brockham should have won comfortably as chances fell to Hanwell, Hodge and Heaselwood, but none were converted. Watson looked threatening on the right; Kong’ s corners were dangerous; Hodge hit a post, and Heaselwood almost muscled his way through the defence on many occasions, but a last ditch tackle usually saved the day for Wolves.

It looked like it wasn’t happening for the Badgers until Heaselwood’s last minute strike claimed all three points, thus maintaining Brockham’s unbeaten record in the higher league.

Lad of the Match: Dan Hetzel playing with a fine disciplined performance, marshalling his defence very capably.

Brockham Badgers U13A were buoyed by a win in the Surrey County Cup on Sunday, that they hope will be the start of a winning campaign in the league.  The visit to Links FC in Motspur Park was one the Badgers were confident would be triumphant, however the first half was anything but.

Both teams started poorly with very little in the way of attractive football or goal mouth action.  The hard ground and a lack of concentration meant the ball spent too much time in the air and no time pinging between passes as has been a trade mark of the Brockham U13s for the past seasons.  In fact, at one point the Badgers manager Jason Rabbetts was more inclined to watch an Under 10s match thrilling the fans on the pitch behind.

As the first half droned on to its frustrating climax more desperation was to come when a speculative Links ball into the Brockham box bounced around a roulette wheel of heads before predictably falling into the net.

Rabbetts was not a happy man.  A few choice half-time instructions, a change of four personnel and a change of formation were quickly executed.  It seemed to do the trick and, to be fair, the commitment and change of attitude from the boys was the main ingredient.

The team was transformed from the kick off.  Brockham got the ball on the ground, started to string intelligent passes together, movement off the ball was back in their game, and communication and tempo glued it all together.  Within minutes Brockham’s wide players were being brought into the game with good effect, most notably Simon Vakeva-Baird who was making one of his best performances for the Badgers after coming on at the break. 

His intelligent movement into space down the left was causing Links all sorts of problems and pulling their defence apart whilst opening space for Brockham in the middle. Meanwhile good link up play between Sam Lloyd, Oscar Cremmen, and Lewis Wood was dominating the midfield and enabling Luke Brightman to wreak as much havoc down the right.  At the same time Sam McCormick, another half-time substitute was marshalling the back line to good effect, with second defensive substitution Oliver Gout doing a sterling job of stifling Links play from left back.

However, it was Alex Flint who took the crowning glory from the super-sub category.  Three minutes after half-time kick-off he superbly trapped a ball to feet 12 yards from goal, swivelled and shot first time.  Unstoppable, and Badgers were level with their heads and tails up.

Five minutes later Vakeva-Baird and Brightman switched play from left to right and fizzed the ball back into the Links area for Flint to strike it first time and take Brockham ahead.  Then, only fifteen minutes into his game, Flint met a Brightman cross from the right and glanced his header like a true pro into the Links net for his hat trick.

Brightman finished off an excellent second half performance to bag Brockham’s fourth from close range five minutes from time.  The Badgers were through to the second round and the boys got a deserved pat on the back for a splendid transformation, showing everyone what they’re really made of when they put their minds to it.

Lad of the Match:  Alex Flint

It took no more than two minutes for the home side to stamp their authority on this match, against an accomplished team. Brockham looked sharp from the kick off and continued in that vein.

When Horsham tried to clear from the game's first attack, the ball went only as far as Teague who pounced on the edge of the area opportunity. His shot was tipped slightly by a flailing keeper but proved to be unstoppable, as it flew into the top corner.

Brockham's drive and enterprise paid more dividends just three minutes later when Dogansoy picked up a loose ball and slotted his pass incisively to a charging Turner, who made no mistake with his shot and increased Brockham's lead.

From hereon Brockham produced a blend of coherent and attractive team football that left Horsham at times chasing shadows. The Badgers' greater desire meant that they were nearly always first to the ball.

Brockham poured forward in unified waves and came close on a number of occasions. Teague again attacked but his shot was parried away. On 23 minutes Watson looped a shot over oncoming defenders only to see the effort clip the bar.

The hosts' back line held firm and smothered most of what the opposition threw at them. They were marshalled by a highly effective Lane, who put in a quite splendid central performance. Baker, Killick and Purcell fought hard to maintain Brockham's dominance.

However, Horsham were not here for the ride and their efforts brought out two important saves from the wide-awake Warne in the last couple of minutes before half time, to keep his side's advantage.

The second period was barely a minute old when Turner sprinted and tricked his way past four defenders but could not connect with a decisive finish.

The midfield began to get somewhat overcrowded as the teams fought for territory. Brockham's tight grip on the game loosened a little but they were soon finding each other with fluid, efficient play.

On 17 minutes Tiley slotted a through ball to Donegan, who flipped onto Teague but the move fizzled out. Teague's persistence almost paid off a couple of minutes later when he chased a seemingly lost cause of a ball. The Horsham keeper and defence panicked and Teague almost stole in to make it three.

Potts, Donegan and Vaughan were employed to snuff out Horsham's attacks and did so soundly, whilst Wheeler was forever busy battling his way up and down the field.

This tenacity ran through Brockham as they tested the visitors right across the park. They produced an impressive display of tireless, effective and mature teamwork. There were fewer clear-cut chances in the last period, but Brockham continued to be threatening until the end.

Man of the Match: Dominic Lane

Squad: Joe Baker, Kemal Dogansoy, Jamie Donegan, Daniel Killick, Dominic Lane, Sam Potts, Jake Purcell, Joe Teague, Wilbur Tiley, Ollie Turner, Jacob Vaughan, George Warne, Rufus Watson, Oakley Wheeler.