Brockham Badgers U9A 1 - 6 AFC Wimbledon (Epsom & Ewell League Premier Division)

AFC Wimbledon are the league leaders and Brockham would need a stellar performance to get any points from this game. Brockham were immediately under pressure but defended well before gifting a soft goal to Wimbledon. Matthew Chapman, in goal for Brockham, performed some marvellous saves to keep Brockham in the game. Brockham responded well to the pressure winning a corner and counter attacking with Sam Church forcing a good save by the Wimbledon keeper. On the break again Ed Russ crossed the ball to Joe Rabbetts  who finished perfectly, 1 – 1. Wimbledon immediately came back and hit the post twice but Brockham counter attacked again with Will Timmons forcing a good save just before half time.

Brockham came out for the second half positively but were not as organised as in the first half and soon found themselves the victim of a goal surge by Wimbledon. Before they knew it Brockham were 1-3 down and their heads dropped which made matters worse. Sam Church and Matthew Chapman battled hard for Brockham but that was not enough and Brockham conceded 5 goals in the second half. Brockham’s first half performance was inspired but they need to be able to maintain that level of performance throughout the game to have any hope of taking points from teams of Wimbledon’s calibre.

  

Man of the Match: Sam Church

  

Report by Rick Russ

Brockham Badgers U14A 4 - 1 Warlingham Colts (Surrey County Cup R3)

A convincing win and a terrific football performance gave much succour to Brockham Badgers U14A after a dismal run of results and the victory saw them through to the 4^th round of the Surrey FA County Cup for the first time.

The fixture with Warlingham Colts had been on and off all week.  The wintery conditions had meant no football for two weeks for most Surrey youth teams and the snow’s icy stubbornness forced MVDC’s hands on Friday, calling off all matches at the Big Field this weekend.  A quick switch to Brockham Recreation Ground and a sudden thaw however meant it was game on.

Brockham looked the better side from the start, but as seems their way this season, they inexplicably conceded in the first few minutes from a corner that dropped onto the cross bar and fell invitingly to the head of a Colt.

There was an air of calm confidence in the Badgers team this week though, and they dominated possession for much of the ensuing half.  This was built from the back where captain Simon Vakeva-Baird was a tower of positive inspiration with both Justin Tarrant and Tom Hampshire proving imperious partners for him in a physically intimidating back three.

Midfield controlled play and built a series of surging runs through the middle and out wide, in particular to their left where Jack Coppin was demonstrating his quick feet skills and devastating pace to good effect, on two occasions going very close to scoring when one on one with the Warlingham keeper.

Pace was definitely the weapon of choice and when Jordan Martin got in behind the Colts back line and ran onto a killer ball from Flint it was only a matter of placing the ball either side of the keeper to level the game.  Having opened his body superbly however the ball somehow went wide.  Martin and Flint went close again before half-time when only the heavens had any idea how Brockham were a goal behind.

It was all out power and pace for the second half with the introduction of Joe Silver up front and Martin moving right to support the pace of Coppin on both flanks.  Within minutes of the start Silver, who had been itching to get on, subtly poked the leveller in.  Five minutes later he had his second with a deft lift over the keeper.  Coppin then joined him with a superbly taken two touch finish on the end of a free kick from Tarrant, making it 3-1 to the Badgers.

Silver thought he had his hat-trick after pinching the ball from the toes of Tarrant following his powerful run from defence which parted the Warlingham team like the Red Sea, but Silver’s cheekiness was ruled out for off-side.  Another through ball provided Silver with his just rewards though.  He powered past two Warlingham defenders and passed the ball into the net for his trio of goals in thirty minutes.

Lad of the Match:  Tom Hampshire

Report by Jason Rabbetts

Brockham Badgers U12A (Blue) 6 - 0 Lower Beeding (Horsham & District 'B' League)

Table toppers Brockham hit six more

First Half
We had sticky conditions and a small pitch which dictated that we had
tight play with little room for open football. Having said that,
Dogansoy was showing some inspired vision with his clear reading of
the game and accurate passing.

On 5 minutes Brockham got their first chance, as Warne passed
straight for Donegan to shoot but his attempt was saved. The midfield
seemed a little frantic at times as space was at a premium but
Killick cut a commanding figure at the back and with Lane, they
snuffed out most of the Beeding forward movement.

Deadlock was broken on 10 minutes when Warne's winning pass found
Teague, who rifled in a confident shot past the keeper. 1-0.

Thus began a period of relentless pressure from Brockham and with
Purcell, they were constantly able to turn defence into attack. 2
minutes later Teague laid on a pass to the charging Turner, who
showed his wonderful composure to stop and then belt the ball beyond
the goalie, only to watch it bounce back off the upright.

In the next few minutes more opportunities beckoned as the Badgers
strikers appeared to be taking it in turns to try and score.
Dogansoy's shot went close, along with Turner's, as the league
leaders gained control more and more of a difficult game. However,
the home side very nearly stole through the Brockham ranks on 24
minutes, when the ball bounced wildly around a crowded Badgers
penalty area but it was eventually cleared. Moments later Vaughan
dashed back to make a timely sweeping tackle to stamp out another
Beeding threat.

The visitors relentlessly pursued their second goal, with Tiley
sprinting up front, but fell into the offside trap too frequently.In
the dying minutes a through ball once again found Turner's galloping
feet. The striker hit a punishing shot that flew into the net to make
it 2-0.
Half time 2-0.

Second Half
Brockham could not have had a better start to the second half. The
period was only seconds old when Teague delivered a very skillful
chip over a flat footed Beeeding keeper, to give his team a
resounding lead at 3-0.

The drama continued as Lower Beeding went on the attack 2 minutes
later. After a tussle, one of their forwards fell to the ground and
was awarded a rather fortuitous penalty. The spot kick was well taken
but was splendidly saved by the agile keeper Potts and parried out to
safety.

The let off for Brockham galvanized the team even more and they went
goal-bound yet again. Thomas made his presence felt up front and the
team's persistence eventually told. On 18 minutes another goal duely
came, from the boots of Turner. His great looping shot was kicked
assuredly from the edge of the area and hit the net uncontested. 4-0.
Goal number 5 came a mere 3 minutes after the restart. A Brockham
corner kick was floated over and met by Warne, who's header went in
like a missile. 5-0.

Heather and Watson were introduced to add fresh input to some now
tired legs. Despite the gluey condition of the pitch and a spirited
opponent Brockham were playing with pace and some flashes of neat
interplay. Although, their exuberant drive led them into more offside
traps.

There was only 3 minutes left to play for and Brockham pressed the
hosts again. This time they wove a pattern through the Beeding
defence down the right flank. A short cross into free space in the 6
yard box was quickly spotted by Vaughan. The player pounced and
smacked in the last goal of the day. 6-0.
Full time 6-0.

Man of the Match: Jacob Vaughan

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

Report by Tony Watson

Steyning 3 - 1 Brockham Badgers U16A (Horsham & District League)

Despite the scoreline, this was probably the best Brockham U16 performance of the season, Brockham playing the bulk of the game with only 10 men after injury had forced Ollie Smith to retire from the game. It was only very late that the home side made the game safe, and even then it was Brockham who created the majority of the chances throughout the 80 minutes, which on a better day would surely have resulted in a draw or win for the team

Fielding a bare 11 due to illness and unavailability, Brockham were boosted by the debut of striker Aaron Clark who has rejoined the club after a gap of several years, Clark having a promising game which bodes well for the rest of the season.

Brockham had an ideal start, scoring in the first minute through top scorer Stephen Kehl, whose shot crept in past the keeper, and Badgers sought to build on the goal, but Steyning equalised via a deflected effort on 15 minutes.

From that point, with the injured Smith soon having to leave the field, the 10 man Brockham side played well to a man. Keeper Connor Mitchell was as solid as ever, the back four of Henry Smith (having probably his best game of the season), Jack Hunt, captain Tom Bletso and Will Bletso were in control of the dangerous Steyning attack. In midfield, Scoop man of the match Ollie Legg was outstanding on the left hand side, while Joe Parker and Charlie Holmes were winning and playing a lot of the ball in centre midfield. Up front Clark and Kehl were forming a promising strike format. Either side of half time, Badgers looked likely to take the lead despite their depleted numbers, Parker and Kehl in particular seeing the home keeper make some fine saves.

But with 15 minutes to go Steyning were awarded a penalty, Mitchell given no chance by a well placed spot kick. Even then Brockham could have forced their way back in, a great Kehl 25 yard shot somehow pushed over by the keeper, while a pin point Legg corner was met by Tom Bletso's header which rocketed just over with the keeper beaten. As Badgers pushed up, Steyning killed the game in the final few minutes, taking advantage of a rare defensive mistake. That goal did not take away from the fact that this was a very good performance by Brockham  which if repeated for the remainder of the season should see Badgers claim some good wins

Squad: Connor Mitchell, Jack Hunt, Henry Smith. Tom Bletso (c), Will Bletso, Ollie Legg, Charlie Holmes, Joe Parker, Ollie Smith, Aaron Clark, Tom Bletso


Report by Bryan Bletso