A magnificent effort to come back from two down against a very good Leatherhead side earned Brockham Badgers U10A a well deserved point at the Big Field this Saturday.
Leatherhead took the lead early on with a wonderful strike from outside the area, and they doubled their lead ten minutes later with a headed goal following some nice wide play and a cross in from the right. Brockham were struggling to find their rhythm early on but once they got the ball on the ground and started to move it quickly across the ground they gradually imposed themselves on the game.
Conan Torpey was once again a threat up front – all movement, strength, and pressure, giving the Swans defence a real handful of power to deal with. Two opportunistic strikes in succession were dealt with before Torpey got the Badgers back in the game. Will Timmons showed great composure under pressure to weave out of a tight spot in left defence, put the ball down the line to Joe Rabbetts who went on a tricky run and fed a nice ball from the left. Torpey still had a lot to do but with a calmness that belied his age he slotted home with a great right footed finish from ten yards.
Torpey then fell foul to a double set back. Mud in his eye followed by a tough shin challenge put paid to his threat for a while and the disruption was all Leatherhead needed to set their stall out again. Pinching the ball from a Brockham defender in a tight position the Leatherhead winger put a pass across goal for their impressive No.6 to bag a third for the visitors just before the break and force Brockham‘s manager to re-write the half-time team talk.
The Badgers set up differently in the second period. George Wryde and Rabbetts were set the task of stopping the service that was all coming down the right side of the Leatherhead formation, whilst captain Ed Russ was asked to put in a man-marking shift against their creative and combative No.6. The change made a difference. It was Brockham now looking the most threatening and a good stint by Matt Chapman was now asking questions of Leatherhead’s left field. Two or three good chances for a goal were thwarted at both ends with Huw Morgan and his counterpart in the Leatherhead goal making a difference to the scorecard. But with only ten minutes remaining Brockham needed a break.
Dividends were repaid for their good work when Harrison Watts and Owen Knowles combined on Brockham’s right to cut a ball back from the bye-line where who else but Torpey was there to bundle the ball in for Brockham’s second.
Sam Church’s introduction for Watts late on was the last roll of the dice. It was decisive change. As the clock ran down, Church made an interception deep in Brockham’s half, he cut the ball inside for Russ who fed Rabbetts making a run on the left. His ball into Torpey was switched back left to Wryde who slid a left foot shot into the bottom of the Leatherhead net. The centre kick was taken and immediately the referee blew up for full-time. The Badgers had pulled off an excellent recovery from two goals down to level the game 3-3 in the dying seconds.
Man of the match: Conan Torpey