A tight and scrappy game contested by two competitive teams won’t go down as a classic but Brockham Badgers U16A marginally edged their game against Elm Grove Colts to win by two goals to one.
Brockham soaked up a lot of pressure from the Colts in the first fifteen minutes with no less than eight corners conceded and defended. Once that passage of play had passed and Brockham were able to get the ball on the ground and retain possession their fortunes changed. Lewis Wood played a superb ball into Jordan Martin who shrugged off the close attention of his marker a showed great confidence and composure to place the ball past the Elm Grove keeper with his weaker left foot.
Elm Grove had a strong and physical spine from back to front, but it was the diminutive Brockham captain Sam Lloyd that won the intelligence battle. Receiving the ball to feet from an advanced midfield position he ducked under the shadow of his towering minder, showed a clean pair heels and played another neat through ball to Martin who finished with his left for the second time.
The Colts wrestled back some control of the game towards the end of the second half, and their frustration threatened to boil over into cautions with a few late challenges coming in. Brockham held their nerve and composure however and were good value for their lead going into half time.
As expected Elm Grove applied some early pressure once more, their No.10 in particular, clearly identified as a target and receiving every ball forward to his feet and muscling his way through the Brockham lines at times. Injuries forced changes for both sides and following three changes to the Badgers’ right sided setup the Colts seized on a little bit of complacency and tucked away a scrappy goal to put them back in the game with twenty five minutes to play.
From then on in the game descended into a stop and start affair with both sides giving away silly free kicks. Composure, patience, and control was lost to some extent but the negative results were mostly self-inflicted and felt by the visitors as it stifled their own ability to get back into the game when the momentum had been with them. Brockham saw the game out and can credit themselves with a mature performance from all the team.
Man of the Match: Jordan Martin