East Grinstead Meads 1 - 7 U12A (U12 Roffey Robins Frank Giess Memorial Cup)

This first round cup-tie brought these two sides together for the first time and produced a memorable win for the Badgers. Talk about a game of two halves!


Brockham pressed the home time from the moment the ball was in play. They harried and pestered, and despite winning several corners, could not provide anything that looked like a clear scoring opportunity. East Grinstead kept the visitors pinned to the centre of the park for periods and in the 12^th minute they won their own first corner. The cross was cleared only to the edge of the area where an expectant Grinstead striker waited. He hit a belter of shot that flew into the net to give his side the lead. 

Brockham did respond positively and in quick succession Tuner, Purcell and Tiley all made worthwhile attempts on goal, but the visitors seemed generally to be chasing rather than controlling the ball. Towards the end of the half Dogansoy’s effort went wide and his team continued to try and find a way through to goal, but to no avail.

Underdogs East Grinstead were hit by a footballing juggernaut in the second half, as Brockham eventually flexed its muscles. The period was about 60 seconds old when a ball was slotted through to Tiley, just inside the home team’s penalty area. His shot flew passed the keeper and thudded into the net for the equaliser.

Brockham stepped up a gear and went on the offensive again. Three minutes later a melee in the Meads goal-mouth only resulted in the ball falling to Warne, who made no mistake with a decisive return that ended up in the goal, for number two and a Brockham lead.

Brockham sensed blood and pushed on for more goals. The next of which came in the seventh minute, when a Badgers assault lead to Tuner’s attempt ricocheting to Tiley, who planted in his second of the game. The play was restarted and Brockham were at it again. Thomas floated in an enticing cross that was met by Teague to parry in yet another for 4-1. 

East Grinstead looked stunned and it was all one-way traffic from here. Brockham were menacing with every move forward and their defence were left to spectate for long periods. With ten minutes remaining, Purcell again burst through the Meads ranks and flicked on to Teague, who hit a great shot to make it five.Watson and Heather were both denied only by the brave Meads keeper. Number six came two minutes later and came from the cheeky boots of Tuner, whose long shot left the goalie stranded. 

The final word went to Thomas with only 6 minutes left. After the East Grinstead keeper had pulled off two impressive saves, Thomas knocked in a rebound to round up the tally to 7-1.

Man of the Match: Joe Teague

Squad: Jamie Donegan, Kemal Dogansoy, Jordan Heather, Daniel Killick, Dominic Lane, Sam Potts, Jake Purcell, Joe Teague, Will Thomas, Ollie Turner, Jacob Vaughan, George Warne, Rufus Watson.

Report by Tony Watson