For the second week running, Brockham opened the scoring only to end up losing the match. Little consolation but on both occasions, the goals were superb. This time, after Dennis Rapson had already been called upon to tip over an early shot from a Guildford striker, George Coffey's shot was deflected just wide from a Chris Brooks set-up, and when Coffey took the resulting corner, Brooks showed great technique to dip at the near post and send a brilliant header into the far corner from an acute angle.
The home side equalised 7 minutes later when Matt Higgins appeared to be brought down on the edge of the Brockham box, but the referee waved play on and a shot flew in from 18 yards. Keeper Rapson was called on once again to tip over the bar shortly before the break, but a fairly even half ended all square at 1-1.
Badgers had two great early opportunities to regain the lead in the second period, Harvey Mewis and Chris Brooks just failing to hit the target with enough conviction, and on 51 minutes Academicals went ahead with a routine header from a corner, the kind of goal Brockham are conceding all too easily at present. Nevertheless they continued to battle and throughout the game were never dominated by the hosts, but as the game wore on fitness levels were starting to become a factor for some players. Will Mahoney, having another excellent game at right back and getting forward whenever possible, thought he had grabbed an equaliser with a fine shot, but the offside flag had gone up for another player who was not interfering with play. That was really that for Brockham as, against the run of play, a Guildford striker found the net from distance with a great strike, and a fourth was added after another Badgers attack broke down.
4-1 was a harsh result and this was a much improved team performance on the previous two games, but Brockham missed the pace of the injured Ramsey and the strength of Nicholson. The tireless Brooks was too often isolated in chasing lost causes, but the centre midfield pairing of Mike Richardson and Oli Winter worked hard and kept a decent tempo going through much of the game. The two teams will do battle again next week in the Surrey Cup and Badgers will hope to make their possession count more effectively.
Squad – Dennis Rapson, Will Mahoney, Liam Ratcliffe, Matt Higgins, Will Bletso, Oli Winter, Mike Richardson, Frankie Routleff, Josh Brown, Jack Wyllie, Harvey Mewis, Alex Nicholson, George Coffey, Harry Ramsey, Chris Brooks.
Report by Simon Winter
