After a hard fought game with East Grinstead,
the U14Bs hoped to record their first win of the campaign. With Owen leading the team, everybody expected him to put in a great
performance and he did - winning man of the match in the process.
In the early minutes of the first half, Brockham produced some slick passing with Parker pulling the strings in midfield. Owen made a surging run and produced a great cross, but the strikers couldn’t connect, perhaps missing the injured Mackrell.
The first clear chance fell to Brightman who struck the ball into the keepers arms. By this time, Brockham needed a goal and it looked like it was going to come when a lofted ball went over the top to Goddard, but his shot forced a fine save from the keeper. Neat passing produced a chance for Moorcroft who shot just wide of the post.
Then good work from Robins on the right hand side set up a Parker
shot which went into the top left hand corner. Penny kept on shooting,
narrowly missing every time. Another shot from Parker led to
a fumble by the keeper and Brightman's first goal for Brockham.
In a few minutes it was 3-0 when Parker scored his second with a great
finish into the bottom right hand corner. For the second week
running the defence looked strong and never looked like putting a
foot wrong in a comfortable first half.
A sensational start to the second half produced a Brockham goal within seven seconds! From kick off a good ball was played to Thomas, who punted it to Parker, who crossed for Bangs, whose effort was saved - only for the ball to be poked in by Sourris. After this Brockham looked by far the better team but, to give credit to Ewhurst, they never gave up.
A good shot from Thomas made everybody think it would be 5-0.....and it was a few minutes later when Goddard was put through on goal by Parker's good ball, and he cheekily lobbed the keeper. Two minutes from the end Goddard scored his second with a half volley from an angle, after a great ball from Bangs.
Through the whole match keeper Hern had not
touched the ball – meaning he was not a man of the match candidate!
Squad: Hern, Goddard, Bangs, Thomas, Sourris, Owen (c), Parker, Moorcroft, Robins, Penny, Brightman.
In a similar start to last weeks match, Brockham took an early 2 - 0 lead after just seven minutes. An impressive display of passing football meant that by half time the score had increased to 5 - 0 and the tie was effectively over.
Steyning emerged from the break more determined, but it was too little too late and the consolation goal was partly due to Brockham losing shape, as members of the defence went absent whilst looking to get on the score sheet.
There were good displays
by a number of the team, but Jonathan Ellis needs a special mention
for his tireless work rate and assists in a number of the goals.
Squad:
Walker, Mizzi, Hunt, Spooner, Davies, Miller, Jarrett, Purcell, Merritt,
Shaw ©, Ellis, Pellman, Tompkins, Wood.
Billingshurst probably came to Brockham expecting an easy game, as they had convincingly beaten the team that Badgers lost to last week - but they were in for a surprise.
Badgers got off to a brisk start and it wasn’t long before Ollie Smith ran through from the halfway line to force a fine save from the Billingshurst keeper. Shortly afterwards, Daniel Hoad beat the offside trap to run through on goal only to be blocked by the advancing keeper. Brockham continued to press forward and, on ten minutes Liam Doyle, intercepted the ball and passed through to Ollie Smith whose perfectly angled shot into the far corner of the net gave Brockham a well deserved lead. Smith was unlucky not to get a second three minutes later, when the keeper made another fine save.
The tide turned for the last ten minutes of the
half with Billingshurst forcing a fine save from Jack Whetnall on
19 minutes and, a minute later, the equaliser came as the ball was
blasted into the goal, giving Whetnall no chance. Despite the
ensuing Billingshurst onslaught, great defending by George Duckworth,
Daniel Ryan, Joe Stradling and Giles Clarke ensured that the score
remained level at half time.
Billingshurst started the second half strongly, scoring two goals in the first two minutes - one of which was a superb header from the six yard line. But competition was restored on 35 minutes when Edward Smith surged through from midfield and his shot, although almost saved by the keeper, trickled over the line to make it 2-3.
Jack Whetnall made a great save a minute
later but, unfortunately ,Billingshurst were first to the loose ball
to restore their two goal advantage. This prompted another period
of pressure from the away team which saw them score twice more, to
make it 2-6.
The last period of the game saw Badgers having more of the possession again. With Harry Roberts, Liam Doyle, Otto Young, Stefan Issberner and Joshua Hook controlling the midfield, they created two more great chances for Edward Smith - the first thwarted by a great save, the second stopped by the post. Josh Caldwell and Hoad worked hard up front and, when Hoad was brought down in the box, he stepped up to convert a great penalty into the bottom right hand corner.
The game ended cruelly with Billingshurst snatching another goal with virtually the last kick of the game to complete a 7-3 win.
Lad of the Match: Ollie Smith.
Squad: Jack Whetnall,
Liam Doyle, Joe Stradling, George Duckworth, Daniel Hoad, Giles
Clarke, Josh Caldwell, Ollie Smith, Otto Young, Joshua Hook, Edward
Smith, Daniel Ryan, Harry Roberts, Stefan Issberner.
With Brockham only just having enough players for this League Cup encounter, a number of the team were forced to play outside of their normal positions.
A slightly nervous first half saw Brockham take a two goal lead and then allow Tooting back into the game to level the score by half time.
However, Brockham
came out much more determined in the second half. Emilly Walker
in goal gained confidence as the game progressed, and Alice Beadle
and Kate Walker were impressive in defence - despite the fact none
of them were in their preferred positions. Tilly Leney scored
once and assisted in a number of the goals, which included four by
Miriam Mizzi and two by Ella Mothee. Claire Weatherston also had her
best game of the season so far.
Squad: Emilly Walker, Kate Walker,
Alice Beadle, Miriam Mizzi, Tilly Leney (c), Ella Mothee, Claire Weatherston.
Click here to see this week's match reports for U9s, U10s and U11s
