In this closely fought encounter between two teams who have drawn three times in a row, another draw was expected - and so it was to be.
With Thomas leading the team, confidence was high despite a surprise defeat at Copthorne last week. In the first few minutes Brockham looked safe with the keeper Hearne comfortable and Brightman playing fantastically on the right side of midfield. Finally a chance came to Robins, but the East Grinstead keeper made a good save.
More flowing football followed with Sourris passing well and Knowles making some surging runs as well as some short efficient passes. At the twenty minutes mark Brockham were by far the better team, with the keeper only having to save once. In the 21st minute an extravagant effort was made by Goddard as he went for a scissor kick, only narrowly missing. A good pass from Bangs put Parker through on the left who took on three players before forcing a corner. The Badgers were piling on the pressure but couldn’t make the final pass. Just before the break, Lloyd went tantalisingly close but the East Grinstead keeper made another great save as the whistle went for half-time.
Starting the second half, Moorcroft made a good run but unfortunately toe poked it into the keepers’ arms. Finally, Brockham scored the goal they so thoroughly deserved. Robins made a great run and crossed to Penny who produced a thunderbolt shot into the bottom right hand corner, sending the Brockham crowd wild.
East Grinstead responded by starting to put the pressure on but, leading by captains’ example, Thomas kept tackling the oncoming East Grinstead forwards. With Bangs, Goddard, Thomas and Sourris holding the line well it didn’t look like East Grinstead would score and, with fifteen minutes to go, a win was in sight. However the win was not to be; the Brockham defence was finally broken following a lofted ball over the top and, whilst defender and keeper crashed into each other, East Grinstead slotted home just past the outstretched foot of Bangs.
In the dying minutes Owen and Cooke made good runs, but to no avail. However there was one final twist in this hard fought game. A good run from Cooke forced the corner and, from the resulting delivery, an outstretched East Grinstead arm appeared to clatter against the incoming ball - but no penalty was given.
Squad: Hearne, Moorcroft, Sourris, Thomas ( c ), Bangs, Brightman, Penny, Parker, Knowles, Goddard, Robins, Owen, Cooke, Lloyd.
Man of the match: Luke Bangs
The U12 Whites found themselves chasing
the game virtually from the start, when Ashurst took the lead inside
two minutes with a quick break through the midfield. The visitors
increased their lead on ten minutes when their left winger fired in
a high shot which dipped under the bar, giving keeper Jack Whetnall
no chance in the full size goal.
This second goal seemed to
spur Brockham into action and they had the better of the possession
for the remainder of the half - winning several corners. The best
chance fell to Daniel Hoad, after beating the offside trap and running
forty yards to face the advancing keeper, who forced him to shoot
just wide of the post. Ollie Smith also came close when following
up a back pass and causing the Ashurst keeper mis-time his
kick, the ball falling awkwardly for Smith whose shot also went just
wide of the post.
Brockham started the second half strongly with
Daniel Ryan, Giles Clarke, Joshua Hook, Callum Tilling and Joe Stradling
closing down the Ashurst runs and pushing midfielders Otto Young,
Liam Doyle, George Duckworth and Dougie Baldwin forward, creating
chances upfront for Josh Caldwell and Edward Smith. But ten minutes
into the half, the Badgers' morale dropped when Ashurst managed to
score two more quick goals on the break for a 4-0 lead.
However,
when the fifth went in five minutes from time, Brockham rallied again
pressurising the opponent's defence. Caldwell was unlucky not to get
a consolation goal when the keeper pulled off a superb save just before
time.
Squad: Jack Whetnall, Liam Doyle, Dougie Baldwin, Joe Stradling,
George Duckworth, Daniel Hoad,
Giles Clarke, Josh Caldwell, Ollie Smith,
Callum Tilling, Otto Young, Joshua Hook, Edward Smith,
Daniel Ryan
An amazing start saw Brockham take the lead after only a couple of minutes, as a superb cross from down the right by Martyn Merritt was met on the volley by Callum Purcell.
With Roffey somewhat shell shocked, Brockham were able to add to the tally minutes later through an own goal. Alex Spooner then hit an absolute cracker from the edge of the box, unstoppable as it flew into the top corner of the goal.
After some pressure, Roffey got a goal back via a good free kick from just outside the area, but a strong header by Jonathan Ellis and another own goal meant that Brockham went into half time with a 5 - 1 lead.
The second half was much closer, but in reality the game was already over. However yet another own goal, this time by Brockham, gave a final score of Brockham 5, Roffey 2.
Squad: Stewart Walker, Tom Hunt, James Davies, Theo Mizzi, Alex Spooner, Martyn Merritt, Michael Shaw (capt), Andrew Miller, Jonathan Ellis, James Pellman, Charlie Tompkins, James Walker, Thomas Woodcock, Callum Purcell.
This week, Roundshaw and District came to Brockham and took an early two goal lead. However the Brockham girls just kept playing and closed the deficit to 2 -1 by half time. The second half saw an even more determined performance with Brockham eventually levelling the score at 3 -3 and, with less than five minutes left, claiming the winner.
It was a good performance by the entire team but captain Tilly Leney, scorer of all four goals, was superb - as were Alice Beadle and Rachael Woodman in defence, Ellie Rowlands in goal and the battling midfielder Kate Walker.
Early days - but Brockham are currently top of the table.
Squad: Emilly Walker, Ellie Rowlands, Rachael Woodman, Tilly Leney, Kate Walker, Alice Beadle, Ella Mothee, Miriam Mizzi, Jenny Sourris, Claire Weatherston.
Click here to see this week's match reports for U10s and U11s
