The U15's took on a strong side from Horsham in a close fought match, with the teams finally sharing the points between them.

The game got off to a strong start on a bitterly cold morning, with both sides creating chances and trying to gain an initial advantage. For half-an-hour,it was hard fought, evenly balanced and hotly contested. However, after 35 minutes, the Badgers finally managed to break the deadlock. Sam Spall used his speed and strength to make an excellent run down the left wing, dribbling past the Sparrows defenders and beating the Horsham keeper, who could not save the strong shot.

Brockham kept the attacking pressure up and, just before half time, Adam Davison produced an excellent header from a corner, with the Horsham keeper only just managing to keep it out of the net.

After a strong pep talk at the interval, the Badgers came back onto the pitch refreshed and reinvigorated, and soon got back into the match with some intelligent passing between the attacking duo of  Owen and Mitchell - backed up by strong support from midfield players Joe Filgate, Adam Davison and Dean Knowles.

The two teams looked evenly matched, with both sides playing well, until a mistake by the Badgers defence let the Sparrows forwards through and they levelled the match at 1-1.

The final ten minutes of the game saw Brockham applying increased pressure, trying to break through Horsham’s defence, but to no avail. Two last minute Nathan Owen corners led to headers from Eddie Granville and Sam Spall - both of which came very close to finding the back of the net. Again, they were well saved by the Horsham keeper.

In the end, the draw was a fair result as both teams had played some excellent football. It's now nine games in a row without defeat for the Badgers, who need to keep up the momentum to hold onto second place in the league.
 
Lad-of-the-Match:  Adam Davison

That said, the game was not as easy as the score would indicate because the majority of the goals were scored in the last quarter when Billingshurst began to tire and their marking became less effective.

With the wind behind them, Brockham swept towards Maidenbower's goal throughout the first half.  The left side of Penny and Sourris interlinking sweetly with the impressive drive of both Parker and player of the match Knowles. With Goddard and Robins offering similar quality down the right, Brockham were looking exciting whenever they had the ball. Mackrell and Lloyd offered plenty of options, but the team's superiority took a while to gain any reward. 

Mackrell's superb lift over an advancing keeper opened the scoring with Knowles slotting home a second just before half time. However, with the strong wind, the Badgers had not turned fine possession into as much an advantage as they would have liked.

Sure enough, the Colts responded with a spirited second half performance and the game became more testing for the excellent and alert Dunleavy in goal. 

Some fluid play by both teams provided a real ebb and flow to the contest and a fantastic strike by a Maidenbower midfielder offered the Colts a lifeline at 2-1. But thereafter, the Badgers really stepped up to the challenge. With Cooke and Brightman shoring up the consistently excellent defence, marshalled by Bangs and van Acoleyen, Goddard was released into attack and a precise freekick from Bangs set him up to restore the two-goal advantage and seal the victory.

The Colts were battling uphill, but a mistake by the Badgers in midfield led to an equaliser from a fantastic shot to the top corner.  The Badgers were quick to retaliate with Murrell popping up to meet a Clarke pass and regain the lead.

After half time, the Badgers on the downhill were encouraged to pile on the pressure, but the wind played a significant part in the lack of goals as Clarke hit the bar and Smith struck wide of the upright. In the meantime, there were saving tackles from Allsop and a number of class saves from stand-in keeper Holmes, to keep the score 2-1 to the Badgers.   A hard fought match.

Lad-of-the-Match: Jack Allsop - for some saving tackles

On the last league match of the season, the U10Cs came away with three points and a clean sheet against bottom of the league Carshalton Saints.

In very difficult windy conditions on a small pitch, the game did not go entirely as expected, with Brockham’s attempts to play the ball forward often thwarted by the conditions and some determined defending during a goalless first half.

In the early stages of the second half, Carshalton almost scored twice, but Simon Watson pulled off a couple of very opportune saves to keep the Badgers in the match. It wasn’t until the latter stages that Brockham secured victory. Daniel Hall, drafted in up front, nicked the ball and played it back to captain Tim Hines to blast home from the edge of the box. Hall then scored his first goal of the season as the Carshalton defensive concentration lapsed. In the final minute, Jamie Hanwell came close to scoring a spectacular third - the ball going millimetres wide.

So the final match ended a good season with victory and gives the U10Cs a commendable 26 points. Two matches were forfeited through illness and a further match was played with a depleted team, giving away 9 goals.

Next season we are moving to 11-a-side, with the boys having to play their way into the team. With the 'B' team likely to end in the top three of their league, the competition is sure to be healthy and we look forward to the boys’ continued success. 

Lad of the Match: Simon Watson - two opportune saves to keep the Badgers alive.

Brockham were hosts again to their good friends, Old Walcountians.

In an extremely close first half, Rachael Woodman was solid as usual in defence and, although both Jenny Souris and Ella Mothee came close to breaking the deadlock, in the end only a good diving save from Emilly Walker kept the score nil-nil at half time. 

In the second half, Walcountians started off the brighter of the two sides with Mirriam Mizzi and Alice Beadle running well from midfield to cover both defence and then attack. However, ten minutes into the second half, Kate Walker scored her first goal for Brockham, a fine shot into the top right corner of the goal. Shortly after, top scorer Tilly Leney, ran more than half the length of the pitch and finished well to make the score two-nil.

With less than ten minutes remaining, Ellie Rowlands in goal made a brilliant save from a rocket of a shot and, as the ball then bounced towards the Brockham goal, Kate Walker did very well to get back and clear off the line. Shortly after, Tilly Leney scored her second from close range to wrap up the match.

Another good performance, although Walcountians can consider themselves unlucky again.