The U10 Assassins settled quickly on a muddy, narrow pitch
and hit top form to beat Merstham Youth 6-0. Merstham created
sporadic chances but were thwarted by a calm and authoritative performance
by the Brockham defence led by Chris Walton. At the other end,
periods of consistent pressure and fast counter-attacks generated
numerous chances for Brockham with player of the week, Cameron Boychuk,
making excellent use of space and stretching the Merstham defence.
In
the first half Brockham dominated territory and possession. William
Pereira and Luke Brightman saw good shots just miss the goal and Pereira
also hit the post. Following two corners and an ensuing goalmouth
melee, Pereira reacted fastest to open the scoring. Minutes
later Brockham showed how quickly they can turn defence into attack. Walton tackled in midfield and freed Felix Saro-Wiwa on the right. His cross was bundled in close to goal by Sam Lloyd. Just before half
time, James Rabbetts fed on some defensive uncertainty and snatched
the third goal.
After half-time, the game lost its coherence
for a while as both sides lacked a little composure. At times
Merstham looked dangerous and Walton made three crucial saving tackles. But with Brockham always first to the 50:50 ball and playing at a
higher tempo, more goals looked inevitable. In particular,
the Merstham defence was unable to police Cameron Boychuk adopting
the goal-poacher role up front. A couple of his efforts were
saved, but then he was able to follow up a rebound from a Rabbetts
shot to make it 4-0.
The Badgers continued to exert pressure. The Merstham centre-back was left stranded by an adroit Boychuk turn
and his clumsy challenge gave away a penalty which Saro-Wiwa converted
crisply. Boychuk rounded off a great performance when he touched
in a cross for the final goal.
With the last move of the game,
Jamie Luckins pulled off a great save to foil Merstham’s best chance. So, stand-in Brockham manager Simon Lloyd maintained his 100% record
this season, this time with a clean sheet.
Squad: Jamie Luckins,
Tom Hampshire, Chris Walton, Tom Charman, Luke Brightman, Cameron
Boychuk, Sam Lloyd (c), James Rabbetts, Felix Saro-Wiwa, William Pereira.
Player
of the Week: Cameron Boychuk
Some would call this performance ‘Irish football’ from the U9 (Whites) against a very good Albury side. Clearly outclassed, Brockham got stuck in and chased and battled from beginning to end, giving Albury little time to settle into the match.
Only two very good individual goals from
Albury, one in each half, beat the Badgers and it was a fantastic
effort to keep them down to two. In the second half, Brockham
began to wear Albury down and were able to go on the offensive a little
more. One day a little good fortune in front of goal will come
our way…
Star Player: All of them. With only the bare minimum
seven players, every boy ran his heart out for the entire match and
tried their hardest. Cannot ask for more than that. Well
done all!
