High
hopes going into this fixture against top-of-the-league Horsham disappeared
as the week progressed. By kick off, a squad of sixteen had shrunk
to just twelve due to unavailability and injuries. Within minutes
of the start, top goal scorer Johnny Ellis limped off, further reducing
the squad to the bare eleven.
With some of the team playing out
of their normal position, the U14As started nervously and found themselves
a goal down early on, in a period of the game played predominantly
in the Brockham half. However, by midway through the first-half, Brockham
got back into the game and began to push forward, taking some pressure
off the defence, where Matthew Hill and James Davies, in particular, had
good games stopping the opposition wingers.
On a difficult,
windy and fairly small pitch, Horsham were good at passing the ball
around on the edge of the box, waiting for an opportunity to shoot
from distance - and did just this to score again before half time.
Brockham began the second-half with more belief and Tom Woodcock
used his speed and strength on a couple of occasions to leave the
Horsham defenders in his wake. He was unfortunate not to convert at
least one opportunity. During what was Brockham’s strongest period
of the game, more should have been made of two perfect corners
from Theo Mizzi, but both went begging.
Andrew Miller, Martyn
Merritt and Jamie Pellman continued to battle in the middle of the
park, supported on the wings by Callum Purcell and James Walker but,
up against arguably the best team in the division, the midfield’s
priority was always defence. As normal, captain Michael Shaw was superb
- somewhat frustrated by being asked to play in the defence yet again,
but his speed was invaluable up against some of the fastest forwards
in the league.
Man-of-the-match however, goes to keeper Stewart
Walker, who made a succession of great saves and kept Brockham in
the game; his best performance for a couple of seasons.
It was
therefore slightly disappointing that, as the game neared the end
and having fought so hard to keep the score-line narrow, a lack of
fresh substitutes took it’s toll. In the last ten minutes, Horsham
again began to dominate and two good crosses were met with some
rather tired defending, resulting in two late goals.
Having disposed of a Premier Division side in Round 1, the Badgers were hoping for another upset against Oxshott Royals, currently lying second in the top division. A quick glance at their opponents suggested this might not be easy, however, as they appeared to dwarf Brockham’s players almost to a man.
When the game got underway, it
quickly became clear that the Oxshott boys could also play a bit,
looking assured on the ball and moving it around with some swift one-touch
passing. Brockham matched the opposition for much of the first period
without really threatening their goal, but were finding the physical
challenge quite difficult - with the notable exceptions of Matthew
Higgins, Bertie Edwards-Hedges and Harry Morland, who seemed to relish
the combat. Oxshott were clinical near goal and went in two-nil up
at half time.
If the home supporters had hopes of a Brockham come-back in the second period, the Royals quickly dispelled them by scoring twice in the first two minutes to kill off the tie. Oxshott made goal scoring look very easy, whilst Brockham had to rely on a well-struck penalty to get on the score sheet (see picture above). To their credit, the Badgers never let their heads drop and chased the game to the end, but Oxshott added a fifth late on to underline the standard that awaits Brockham's U10s when they move to the 11-a-side game next season. Let’s hope some of our players grow a few inches over the summer!
Brockham lad-of-the-match: Harry Morland
In a game played in excellent spirit, Brockham started well and were awarded an early penalty after a hand ball. However, the spot kick was well saved and Epsom built on their good fortune by taking the lead shortly afterwards; keeper Matthew Batts unable to prevent a close range shot from finding the back of the net.
From then on, the Badgers dominated but Epsom fought a good rearguard action. Coupled with riding their luck on several occasions, this maintained their advantage at the interval.
Soon after the restart, Badgers were level when Josh Brown made amends for the penalty miss and got a well-deserved goal by surging into the box and powering a shot past the Eagles keeper. It was pretty much one way traffic after that, but Brockham could not find that killer instinct and Epsom gamely held on for what looked like a draw, which would have forced a replay.
But almost on full time, the Badgers won a corner. Brown swung in the cross from the left, William Bletso touched the ball back for defender Harry Kensitt to smash the ball home from close range - and Brockham were through to the third round.
It was a tense start to a match which was to prove a difficult game to win. The first attempts on goal by the Badgers were initiated by some excellent passing from the midfield - but all of these came to no avail and Steyning and Brockham continued a head-to-head battle up and down the field. The Badgers forced a number of corners in a spell of sustained pressure, but were not able to convert these into a goal. Late into the first half, Thomas Coffey was required to head out twice in defence and the score remained 0-0 at half-time.
During the break, the lads were encouraged to push forward and maintain the one-touch passing. After the restart, Clarke had a fantastic run through the defenders and passed a ball to Ashley Smith, who shot just wide of the upright. The Brockham defence was then called into action again and remained firm, although the keeper was required to make a number of crucial saves. Fifteen minutes into the half and a ball from midfield to Mackrell was passed inside to teamate Dylan Killner, who managed to flick past the Steyning keeper for a hard fought 1-0.
There was to be another telling header from Coffey; and a clearance off the line by Wright was applauded by his team mates. Together they ensure the final score remained in the Badgers' favour.
Lad-of-the-match: Thomas Coffey - excellent defensive work.
