Brockham Badgers U15A undid themselves this weekend. They dominated offensive play, and had they been more clinical in their finishing, the score line may have been different. But their failure to organise defensively as a unit, combined with some nervous goal keeping, once again lost them the match and places them firmly in a relegation dog fight with only four games of the season remaining.
The first ten minutes was a pretty even affair, both teams getting to grips with each other and trying to impose their own shape and tempo on the game. The match ebbed and flowed with some half chances at either end. Molesey opened the scoring at the end of this spell. Brockham lost the ball high up the pitch in midfield. Molesey played the ball wide to their right midfielder. Brockham’s left winger failed to track and by the time he’d woken up to the threat Oli Gout at left back was two on one. Molesey’s right midfielder was allowed to advance as Gout tried to cover both the threat and the potential pass inside, and enough space to shoot was all Molesey needed to put the ball in from 15 yards.
Brockham responded well. Alex Mitrovic and Joe Silver both had chances cleared off the line, and Brockham looked more like the team who would go on to win. It was a neat ball into Alex Mitrovic from midfield which he smartly switched outside right with his first touch which allowed the Badgers to level the game. His pass was perfect – a yard or two nearer Jordan Martin than the Molesey goalie, forcing the keeper to advance always in the knowledge that Martin’s pace would get him their first. Martin took a touch, rounded the keeper and drilled it home.
Brockham were immediately hit by a self inflicted succour punch. Within two minutes of the restart Molesey went ahead again. Again the threat came down the Molesey right. Gout could have met the aerial threat early with his head but did well all the same well to recover and push the danger out wide from where an innocuous cross came in for the Brockham defence to routinely clear. Inexplicably both centre halves and right back let the ball roll in front of them without an attempt to intercept and an advancing Molesey player cut in from the left and tucked it away.
Brockham looked a little nervous now and started to rush things. Too much emphasis was being placed on getting the ball forward too quickly and as a consequence possession was being given away cheaply. The next goal started from losing the ball too easily in an offensive position high up on the left but the result was more a stroke of luck than anything. A Molesey striker took a speculative shot from 20 yards. It was a simple collect for the Brockham keeper as the defence and the Molesey front line turned to jog back to the half-way line. Somehow though the ball slipped through his wet gloves and rolled through his legs and over the line.
To their credit, Brockham didn’t drop their heads. Two excellent chances to get back in the game were gifted on a plate but neither were taken. The first came from some excellent combination work on the right from Sam Lloyd and Luke Brightman. Lloyd put a peach of a cross in from the right, across the six yard box that just begged to be finished. The ball passed all of the Molesey defence and dropped for Martin who elected to attempt to chest it into the goal rather than direct a simple header into the gaping net. The ball went wide. Next, Jack Coppin made an excellent run into the Molesey penalty area where he was brought down and the referee blew for a spot kick. Coppin shot wide.
Luck just wasn’t helping Brockham’s attacking cause to balance their defensive shortcomings, and so the combination transpired for Molesey’s fourth. A simple collect on the bye-line was fumbled by the Brockham keeper and the ball somehow rolled out for a Molesey corner when Brockham should have instead been on the counter. The most obvious Molesey man to mark was the number 10. He was the tallest, most vocal all match, and was their standout player and captain. The corner sailed in, and the number 10 was there at the back post totally unmarked to head home.
Brockham have a front line to be feared. They can score against anyone, but if they don’t defend as a unit and organise themselves on set pieces then no matter how many chances they create they will always be vulnerable even when the possession advantage is theirs. The team is good enough to be at the opposite end of the table but instead it finds itself in a relegation battle. The boys can get themselves out of it but it will require them to determine the outcome not the opposition.
Men of the Match: Sam Lloyd and Luke Brightman
