Badgers U15A suffered defeat, in a game switched to the Big Field due to Steyning's pitch being waterlogged.

Brockham dominated the first half but found themselves 2-0 down. Firstly a soft goal conceded gave the visitors the lead, then a wicked deflection took a harmless shot beyond the wrongfooted Connor Mitchell in goal. Either side of each score, Badgers battered the Steyning goal but could not seem to get the breakthrough that seemed inevitable given the number of shots on target.

For some reason Badgers started slowly in the second period, conceding a goal five minutes into the half. Brockham then lost their shape chasing the game, Steyning taking full advantage to extend their lead to 5-0.

With the game beyond them, for the final fifteen minutes, Brockham suddenly regained their composure, goals from Oli Smith and two from Stephen Kehl reducing the arrears to 5-3 as the Badgers looked far the better side.

A bullet header from Henry Hill almost made it 5-4 with two minutes remaining, but as Brockham pushed forward in search of an improbable point, Steyning caught them on the break to put any idea of a great escape out of sight.

Scoop Lad of the Match: Joe Parker

Squad: Connor Mitchell, Joe Parker, Tim Hopkins, Will Bletso, Jack Hunt, Oli Smith, Ben Stokoe, Jamie Salmon, Stephen Kehl, Oli Legg, Henry Hill

With the weather causing havoc for fixtures this season, Brockham were unusually saddled with a double header versus league leaders Wandgas Youth on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend.  It was a six point opportunity to close the gap and put some pressure on the leaders - which proved all the motivation required for the Badgers to produce the performance of their season.

The opening fifteen minutes of the Saturday game suggested it would be tight.  Both sides were attempting to impose their style of play and neither was taking any particular advantage.  Brockham stuck to their wide attacking style, whilst Wandgas attempted to force them into a narrow and physical contest.

It was Brockham that made it count first, though peculiarly as a result of some narrow approach play.  Despite his size disadvantage, Lewis Wood was not being bossed in midfield.  He was winning everything in front of his back four and feeding Oscar Cremmen and Justin Tarrant who formed a midfield V in front of him.  Tarrant was being targeted by the Gas number 8 and 16 with some strong challenges but was matching them for power and strength. Having received from Wood, Tarrant drove at the Wandgas back line before breaking the deadlock with a rifled right footed shot from 18 yards into the back of the net.

Brockham’s second came shortly afterwards.  The industrious Alex Flint had pulled the Wandgas back line apart all morning with his clever runs and, after moving one way before checking back the other, he was able to create enough space to receive the ball just outside the area and score smartly with his right from ten yards.

The Badgers now seemed in total control.  Their movement and communication was creating enough space in midfield to seemingly drive a bus through despite the Gas’s attentions, and the play was permanently camped in the opposition’s half.  So it was with some surprise, but not against the run of play, that Brockham took a four goal lead before half time with two decisive strikes in quick succession. 

The first was a wonderful finish from the captain Sam Lloyd after a dream build up of passing football that started in defence and switched first right and then left before being buried from the middle into the net.  The next goal was taken from distance by Simon Vakeva-Baird after a flowing move down the left that was deservedly finished with a sublime strike from 20 yards that lifted the ball over the advancing keeper and arced into goal.

An expected response from Wandgas lasted only fifteen minutes into the second half before Brockham scored their fifth and Wandgas’s frustration spilled over into clumsy tackling.  A harsh challenge meant Tarrant had to be substituted injured but the Badgers responded immediately and in the right way with a lovely inter-change of football between Luke Brightman and Cremmen that released Jordan Martin to mark-up his sixteenth league goal of the season.

Vakeva-Baird finished off his contribution with his second, this time from ten yards, into the bottom left of the Wandgas net - taking Brockham’s tally to six for the day.

Unfortunately the weather conspired to render Sunday’s match unplayable, just when Brockham fancied their chances for an upset.  Three points taken from the leaders puts the Badgers in third and with an outside chance of promotion if they can repeat the same feat on the return match.

Lad of the Match:  Oscar Cremmen

After a stirring pre-match motivational pep talk from Manager Jason Hughes, the team hunting first place in the league set off at a pace. At home on a surprisingly well drained pitch, the game started frantically with an early shot from Captain Jack Coppin being turned against the post by the Maidenbower keeper.

A passage of superb interplay between the intimidating midfield general Justin ‘Hercules’ Tarrant and the nimble centre forward Lewis Fry resulted in a lay-off back to the advancing Tarrant. He unleashed a long range pile-driver that overpowered the keeper, ending up in the back of the net for an early 1-0 lead to Brockham.

Within the first five minutes it was apparent that the standard of football played by Brockham was going to be too high for Maidenbower to cope with and that they would face a torrid time fending off wave after wave of attacks.

Archie Knight to Fry down the right flank left him clear to float a ball into the box for Matt Rankin to connect with – it was only the quick reactions of the Maidenbower keeper that prevented a doubling of the score. A partial clearance by a Maidenbower defender teed the ball up for Brockham’s central defender Harvey Boothroyd to have a crack on goal. Cleared again it fell to Tarrant who fired the ball marginally over the bar to give Maidenbower a moment's breathing space.

Time after time, balls pushed out down the right and left wings enabled wide attackers Nathan Hughes and Fry to loft balls towards the opposition’s goal area. With Tarrant’s physical presence in the air it was only a matter of time before he connected with his head and narrowly missed making it 2-0.

A scrambled clearance by an overwhelmed Maidenbower defence in disarray left Cameron Boychuk with a clear shot on goal - and it was 2-0 to Brockham.

At the restart Maidenbower made some headway into Brockham’s half, but an intelligent clearance from Will Sanderson allowed Coppin to execute a superbly timed through ball to Rankin for a shot on goal that was narrowly saved by the Maidenbower keeper.

Soon after, in a now familiar move, Brockham’s Fry laid the ball back to Tarrant who rifled home for 3-0 to the Badgers.

A series of relentless attacks from both flanks tested the Maidenbower defence further and they did well to fend off shots from Rankin and Fry until a powerful run from Tarrant from within his own half ended with a through ball to the Brockham captain, who turned his defender and picked the top right corner to take the score to 4-0.

Further pressure during the first half finally paid dividends as Fry found space on the outside of the Maidenbower box and chipped the keeper to make it 5-0 at the half time whistle. The Badgers had truly been on fire.

However, it was to be a game of two halves.

An early Maidenbower attack tested Brockham keeper Cameron Wallace’s mental focus and he beat the attacker to the ball to clear from outside his goal area. A superb piece of visionary goal keeping.

A counter attack mounted by midfielder Rankin down the right hand side caused a fumbled clearance to fall to a well place Boychuk, who rattled the stanchion at the back of the goal to take the score to 6-0 and his own personal tally to two.

Maidenbower showed admirable determination to launch a series of attacks, mainly down the right hand side. Pressure on the solid and reliable defence of Man of the Match Tom Hampshire and central defender Boothroyd saw a burst of pace from the Maidenbower number 9 create space for him to break the impasse and pull a goal back.

A late substitution by Brockham saw an energised James Rabbetts inject some fresh ideas and pace into the Badgers' midfield and an overhead kick from him bounced kindly, setting Rankin free to launch a well-struck left footer against the bar. Off the reboun,d Hughes’ shot was saved to deny him a place on the score-sheet again.

Maidenbower were down but not out and a further period of perseverance saw them break through the Brockham defence to slide a second consolation goal under the outstretched arms of keeper Wallace.

There was to be a further twist to this tale. Urged on from the sidelines to strive for a greater goal difference in the battle for top place in the Horsham C Division, a final foray from Brockham saw Fry twist and turn to create space to shoot past the Maidenbower keeper for a final score of 7-2.

It was a clinical display by Brockham. All credit to the opposition's defiance and reluctance to give up, but on the day Brockham’s superior passing game, dominance in midfield and solid defence combined to deliver what could be a league winning performance.

But there is still a fair way to go….

We started off pretty equal with the ball split between ends. After about five minutes, Will Hearn scored a quick, simple but good goal to put us in the lead.

After that Handcross had a few chances but failed to score, as did we because of their brilliant goalie.

Soon after the first goal, Will Hearn scored again by whacking the ball into the net from close range as the goalie dropped the ball in his path. That made it 2-0 ands that was it for the first half.

We dominated the second half by getting three more goals - two of them scored by Andy Kensett after brilliant runs. The third camer from Sam Yeomans, making it clear that we had won this game.

At the end Handcross did get a goal from a player who made a good run. We also had some chances that were saved by their brilliant and very confident goalie. Our defence also played amazing.

The final score was 5-1 but Handcross did play very well and deserved the goal they got.

After two extremely tight encounters earlier in the season, with the Badgers narrowly beating Albury 1-0 at home and drawing  1-1 away, Brockham needed to be at their best to secure another victory, playing away from home.

As expected, the first period was tense.

Brockham enjoyed the early possession with a string of passes culminating in a sharp shot, just the wrong side of the left hand post.  They continued to attack, earning two corners before Albury broke away and an excellent shot was only kept out by the Brockham keeper's legs.  

After another Brockham attack, it was Albury who picked up the possession and, twice again, only the keeper's legs kept the ball out of the Brockham net.

The second half saw Albury dominate possession with their two strikers continuously threatening the Brockham goal.  The pressure paid off when, with the Brockham defence indecisive, their ever present striker pounced and drove the ball into the back of the net. 

That was the catalyst the Badgers appeared to need.  Activity levels rose to  those expected from an unbeaten side, however they had left it too late and were not able to break down the disciplined Albury side, who deserved a well fought victory.

Squad: Fergus McGoogan, Aidan Torpey, Justin Hurst, Alex Wells, Callum Glenn, Joseph Issberner, Matthew Ford, Harry Fairley, Max Austin