Badgers U16B 3 - 6 East Grinstead Meads (Horsham and District League)

Badgers U16B will feel slightly aggrieved to have lost this game to table topping East Grinstead, the side matching the away team all the way during this game only for two late goals for the visitors to put a misleading gloss on the result.

Brockham had gone close early on when Ollie Curtis chased down a keepers kick, but his shot just missed the goal.  Soon after Dan Hoad put Badgers ahead, Brockham’s attack causing the away defence concern all game.  East Grinstead drew level midway through the half, but a twice taken penalty from Elliott Austin saw Badgers re-establish their lead at 2-1.  Brockham could not hold on though and the league leaders scored two goals in quick succession late on in the first half to take a 3-2 lead into the interval.

A sluggish start in the second half saw Brockham go further behind but as the second half went on it was Brockham who were on top, and the team really should have reduced the arrears before Ollie Curtis pounced to muscle his way into the box and make it 3-4 with 10 minutes to go.  East Grinstead were wobbling now, but a fortuitous goal 5 minutes from time steadied them, a long range effort seeing the Brockham keeper dazzled by the low sun as the ball found its way into the net.

Then with the last kick of the game, an unfortunate own goal made it 6-3 to the away side and seal the win for East Grinstead to give them their fifth straight win.

Squad: Ben Wright, Sam MacFarland, Max Ruffm Dhilen Patel, James Stone, Dex Bass, Josh Caldwell, Elliot Austin, David Atkinson, Ollie Curtis (c), Dan Hoad, Will Sprange, Stefan Issberner, Josh Hook

Report by Bryan Bletso

Badgers U16A 1 - 3 Cranleigh Tigers (Horsham and District League)

Brockham Badgers U16A spurned the chance of going top of the table as second from bottom Cranleigh sprang a surprise with a 3-1 win at the Big Field

Badgers started on fire, bossing the first 10 minutes, but some poor tackling saw Cranleigh take the lead in the first half as Brockham’s performance deteriorated as the half went on.  Badgers failed to take any lessons on board at half time and within a minute of half time, Cranleigh extended their lead to make it 2-0.  To be fair, Brockham suddenly got their act together, with Charlie Holmes seeing a lot of the ball, and the visitors were put on the back foot, Henry Hill having a good chance to pull a goal back before some good individual play from Ollie Smith saw him ride a few challenges to find himself one on one with the keeper, Smith slotting the ball past the keeper to put Badgers back in the game

Their only looked like one winner now, but Cranleigh dug in and with 10 minutes to go scored on the break to make it 3-1.

With the game lost, Badgers will look back on a big lost opportunity, and perhaps reflect that the side is best placed pulling together as a side rather than seeing discord in the ranks produce underachievement.

Squad: Connor Mitchell, Henry Smith, Jack Hunt, Tom Bletso (c), Will Bletso, OIllie Smith, Ollie Legg, Charlie Holmes, Mike Carty, Joe Parker, Henry Hill, Stephen Kehl

Report by Bryan Bletso

Dorking FC U18s 3 - 1 South Park (Southern Youth League)

Dorking FC U18s good start to the league season continued with a win over South Park FC's Under 18s on Wednesday night at Meadowbank, courtesy of a hattrick from leading scorer Ryan Stewart.  The team go third in the league and are unbeaten after 5 games, with games in hand on the second placed team Lingfield, Croydon Athletic continuing to trail blaze the division with a 100% start to the season.  See up to date table below

Dorking went behind in this game, South Park being level on points with Dorking going into this game scoring early on.  Dorking were playing without a regular centre back through injury, with Nathan Crosbie and Lewis Armstrong playing out of position to do a job for the team, both players excelling on the night.

Fellow defenders Marcus Legg and Josh Clark were in good form at full back, and it wasnt long before Dorking's youngsters were on level terms, Ryan Stewart scoring the first of his three goals with a fine shot which found the top corner of the South Park goal.

1-1 at half time, Dorking soon took the lead.  A corner was drilled in, the ball finding Stewart whose well placed shot found the net giving the keeper little chance from the edge of the 6 yard box.

Stewart then put the game beyond the reach with a 20 yard lob  over the keeper

Dorking play at Three Bridges on Wednesday 10 November

Squad: Gavin Morrison, Josh Clark, Marcus Legg, Lewis Armstrong, Nathan Crosbie, James Baker, Darryl Jeeves, Stephen Batchelor, Daniel Russell, Will Davies, Ryan Stewart  Subs: Chris Caley, Jack Murrell, Henry Warne


Report by Bryan Bletso 

South Division	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
Croydon Athletic U18	5	5	0	0	22	3	+19	15
Lingfield U18	7	4	1	2	23	14	+9	13
Dorking U18	5	3	2	0	13	5	+8	11
Leatherhead U18	6	2	4	0	9	6	+3	10
Oakwood U18	9	2	4	3	18	17	+1	10
Redhill U18	5	2	2	1	8	6	+2	8
South Park U18	9	2	2	5	15	27	-12	8
Merstham U18	6	2	1	3	14	13	+1	7
Horley Town U18	7	2	1	4	13	19	-6	7
Crawley Down U18	6	1	2	3	10	27	-17	5
Three Bridges U18	5	0	4	1	4	7	-3	4
East Grinstead U18	6	1	1	4	4	9	-5	4

Badgers U14A 1 - 2 Aldershot Boys Elite (Surrey Youth League Premier Elite)

This week’s Brockham Badgers U14A’s performance was a promising development against a team that had played them off the park three times last season.  This season Brockham had already taken a point from the away fixture and they were optimistic about their chances of competing for the return match.  Alas no points came the Badgers way but it was a tight game competed on a level throughout from which Aldershot only came out narrow 2-1 winners.

For the first twenty minutes neither team imposed any level of superiority, but equally, organisation and creativity were lacking during what was a particularly scrappy first half.  The Shots took the lead from a move that was to become a theme of their attacking intent.  Moving the ball down their left they were allowed to put a cross into the Brockham box.  The black and whites failed to close the ball down quickly enough and unsighted James Rabbetts was beaten at the near post from 10 yards.

Brockham’s defensive line was managing to deal with Aldershot’s main front line threats but too few of Simon Vakeva-Baird’s and Justin Tarrant’s well won knock downs were being picked up by the midfield.  This was putting Brockham’s defence under unnecessary pressure and gifting Aldershot the initiative.  The Badgers came out better prepared second half.  Midfield organised itself a little tighter and anticipated the knock downs better.  Gradually they started to wrestle the possession advantage from the Hampshire boys and before long Brockham were level.

A cross ball from midfield to the Brockham right channel was cleared by the Aldershot defence but the knock-back was met by Tarrant who let fly a first time rocket from 25 yards that buried itself in the bottom corner.

Buoyed by their leveller it would have been of no surprise had Brockham pushed on and grabbed a winner, but complacency got the better of them.  Again The Shots built from the left, their No.6 feeding their menace of a No.17 winger.  He was allowed to run to the by-line with the ball and zipped in a low cross in front of goal.  Two defenders and the Brockham keeper let it pass in front of them without a word to each other and the Badgers midfield stood and watched as two unmarked Aldershot runners competed gleefully for who was going to tap it in.  It was a cruel response but a lesson in concentration and communication the black and whites shall have to learn.

To their credit Brockham came right back at the Shots with two excellent chances denied.  The first was a free kick from Jordan Martin that ran through to the back post.  Lewis Wood had made an excellent unseen run to the same position, but meeting the ball at speed and on his weaker foot the ball looped over the cross bar from just a few yards out.  Martin went close himself shortly after with an instinctive shot with his left foot from range that struck the angle of the upright and cross bar and ricocheted  to safety.

Brockham can be proud of their performance.  Although their results may not show it, they’ve improved their game this season and this match was testimony to that.  They’ll continue to target survival and show the academy kids that with the right attitude, work ethic, and belief, a village side can compete.

Lad of the Match:  Tom Hampshire

Report by Jason Rabbetts

Guildford Academicals 4 - 1 Badgers U15A (Surrey Youth League Premier Elite)

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