Badgers U14A paid for a poor opening period during which they found themselves 2-0 down.  That bad spell proved costly as Brockham dominated the game from midway through the first half against Broadbridge Heath, lying second in the table.  Indeed, Badgers almost grabbed a point in the dying minutes before Heath made the game safe with a fourth goal with the last kick of the game.

Without regular keeper Connor Mitchell and centre back Jack Hunt, Brockham seemed disorientated early on, stand in keeper Tom Bletso given no chance as Broadbridge Heath scored twice in the opening three minutes.  Just as Brockham were getting on top, a good twenty yard strike again gave Bletso no chance as Heath took a 3-0 lead.

Badgers responded well and started to gain the upper hand. They should have reduced the arrears before the interval as at least three efforts were spurned.

Brockham made a real match of it after the break, Stephen Kehl scoring a great goal five minutes into the second half, before a defender turned in the ball into his own net under pressure from Ollie Curtis to make it 2-3.

Brockham were playing some attractive football. Ben Stokoe was instrumental in many of the moves along with Henry Hill, and right back Joe Parker also gave his all with another strong performance.  At the back, Brockham had tightened things up well with centre backs Ollie Smith and Scoop Lad of the Match William Bletso looking strong. Whilst in attack, Kehl was a frequent thorn in the Broadbridge Heath side.

Brockham’s pressure on the away goal grew as the game drew to a close but, try as they might, Badgers could not force the equaliser they deserved. Instead, Broadbridge Heath showed their character by sealing the game with the last kick of the game as they broke forward to relieve the pressure on their defence.

Scoop Lad of the Match: William Bletso

Squad: Tom Bletso (c), Henry Smith, Joe Parker, Ollie Smith, Michael Carty, Ben Stokoe, Henry Hill, Tim Hopkins, Liam Doyle, Stephen Kehl, Ollie Curtis, William Bletso.

Badgers U14B fell to a late defeat as Kirdford scored three goals in the last fifteen minutes.  The win was deserved but, with the size of the margin, Brockham will feel a little hard done by as they worked hard and kept the visitors at bay for just under an hour.

The first half saw Kirdford on top, but Scoop Llad of the Match George Corfield in goal was in confident form, while centre backs Sam Norkett and James Stone again showed good determination.  In centre midfield David Atkinson was starting to use the ball well the longer the half went on. Daniel Ryan and Will Sprange were also doing well at full back, while Stefan Issberner was giving his usual fully committed performance.

Kirdford stepped up the pressure in the second half, but Brockham still held on, and even created some danger of their own as captain Toby Dowle and fellow striker Daniel Hoad looked to break forward.

The visitors breakthrough came on 55 minutes, a close range finish reflecting Kirdford’s dominance.  Brockham kept fighting but a second goal for Kirdford five minutes from time killed the game, while the third in injury time was perhaps harsh on a Brockham side that had given their all.

Scoop Lad of the Match: George Corfield

Squad: George Corfield, Daniel Ryan, Will Sprange,  Sam Norkett, James Stone, Toby Dowle (c), David Atkinson, Josh Caldwell, Stefan Issberner, Tom Kinsey, Josh Hook, Max Ruff, Daniel Hoad, Alex Ward.

Brockham Badgers U13A were drawn away to Tooting and Mitcham Juniors in the Surrey Youth League Cup and, with the confidence gained from  their fine 2-0 home win over Tooting just three weeks earlier, travelled in high expectation. Unfortunately the “curse of the Brockham Bonfire” struck again; Badgers have never won a match the day after the Bonfire, and this bizarre statistic remains intact as their hopes went up in smoke with a 4-1 defeat.

In truth, where Brockham had been deserved winners in the previous contest, this time they were second best in most departments and although the scoreline was harsh, they never created enough chances to compete. The difference was mostly in the midfield, which Badgers had dominated last time out, but this time lacked bite and conceded too much ground to a Tooting side who were quick and incisive in possession.

The South Londoners started the stronger and created early chances, bringing a good save out of Dennis Rapson in the 13th minute, and they finally took the lead on 25 minutes after a mix-up in the Brockham defence. Seven minutes later they added a second with a clinical demonstration of how to score from a corner, a superb looping header finding the net from the edge of the box. Still, Brockham managed to reduce the arrears just before the break when George Coffey showed great composure to control the ball on the 18-yard line and chip the keeper.

Badgers managed to stay in the game for thirty minutes of the second half, mainly thanks to two more excellent saves from keeper Rapson and some sterling defending from Mahoney, Higgins and Nicholson. Josh Brown, who had worked tirelessly in the first half as a makeshift left back, reverted to his normal position on the right flank in the second and proved a real handful, his versatile performance earning him the lad of the match award. Brockham began to exert some pressure but just when an equaliser seemed likely, they conceded a soft goal and, with the result no longer in doubt, allowed Tooting to run in a rather flattering fourth goal.

Squad: Dennis Rapson, Will Mahoney, Matt Higgins, Alex Nicholson, William Bletso, Ross Bangs, Josh Brown, Jack Wyllie, Liam Ratcliffe, Oli Winter, Mike Richardson, Harvey Mewis, George Coffey, Harry Ramsey.

After securing first round victories in the Cup, Brockham and Hampton Manor were set to face each other in a match that would become known as the ‘Battle of Brockham’.  Brockham had been victorious when they had faced Hampton in the league so a little complacency seemed to be evident.  After a respectful minute’s silence for Remembrance Sunday we were under way with Brockham scoring immediately thanks to Vakeva-Baird’s effort.

Hampton at this point were bossing the midfield and deservedly equalised five minutes later.  Brockham restored their lead thanks to a Martin goal that had good build up play from Cremmen and Wood.  Seconds later Brockham were 3-2 down and were facing going into half time with negative vibes until Brightman came up with the goods to bring them back level.

Half time came with sides locked 3-3.  The decision to bring on Flint seemed to be a great one as he scored immediately to make it 4-3.  Could Brockham secure the victory from here? 

No. 

Hampton equalised minutes later and soon after that scored again to make it 5-4.  The referee deemed that a Hampton player had handled the ball in the area so Brockham were awarded a crucial penalty.  Flint stepped up and netted it 5-5.  Brockham’s defenders were faced with another test and Hampton capitalised on Brockham’s failure to clear the ball and the score was 6-5.

Minutes later Brockham were level again thanks to Vakeva-Baird and even gained the lead soon after due to another goal from Flint made it 7-6.

The game appeared to be slipping away from Hampton when Marshall slammed the ball into the back of the net to make it 8-6.

The next goal would be crucial and it was Brockham who scored it.  Hampton then scored a consolation goal making it 9-7 but to add insult to injury Vakeva-Baird smashed the hopes of a late come-back from Hampton to secure a momentous victory for Brockham.  Final score 10-7 to Brockham.

Man of the Match was awarded to Flint for coming off the bench to score four fantastic goals.

Brockham got off to a flying start in the first thirty seconds and Andy Kehl scored a goal.

Horsham tried to start again but they couldn’t get past the Brockham defence because it was too solid - they weren’t letting the ball go past them once. It was Alfie Edwards, Michael Tsimekis, Louis Clarke and James Hawkins. Every ball that came towards them was sent flying back into the opposition’s half. Apart from once where Alfie saved us twice when the ball was on the line.

The midfielders were doing amazing runs and superb balls to the strikers. Oliver Houndsfield, Will Hearn, Andy Kehl and Dominic O’Brien all playing outstandingly well. Ben Giles was doing some amazing saves in goal. The strikers were Tommy Gill and Andrew Kensett - they were doing very well.

About half way through the first half Andrew Kensett scored  an amazing second goal and as the half time whistle blew the score was 2-0 to Brockham.

Horsham were trying to get the ball into our half but our team was to strong, they were fighting to keep possession of the ball. The new set up saw Louis Clarke moved into midfield and Oliver Houndsfield put in defence. Andy Kehl was the first to score in the second half and not long after Andrew Kensett scored an amazing goal. And then Will Hearn who had been battling finally got a result and scored a goal.

Then a substitution was made, Ben Giles our keeper was swapped for Andrew Kensett and Andy Kehl was put in defence. Andrew made some amazing saves and Andy stopped lots of attacks with the help of the other defenders. Next Louis, Ben and Joseph each scored their first goal of the season. Then unfortunately Brockham couldn’t hold on forever and Horsham got a goal back.

The final score was 8-1 to Brockham!

This match posed quite a challenge for the U11 Meteors. Not only were the opposition rather above us in the league, but the weather was really bad and the pitch rather exposed!

Ever keen to keep Simon on his toes, we completely shocked him and our supporters in the first half by being rather awake and going 1-0 ahead with a fantastic goal from Oliver Edwards.  In fact in the first twenty minutes we were positively brilliant with much of the action in the Colts' half and some lovely midfield work from Scott and Sam.

The last ten minutes of the first half were a bit disappointing as we lost concentration and the Colts came into their own, so in spite of Arran’s best efforts in goal we ended the half 2-1 down…but not out!

We threw ourselves soggily into second half which proved to be quite a rollercoaster! The Colts kept coming at us and we found ourselves 4-1 down. Finally, all Jacob P-Y’s hard work paid off and he evened things up a bit with another great goal.

Although our performance was a bit patchy in places, we have proved that we can start a match completely on the ball and that we can keep it together when things get difficult. Everyone worked really hard and we are definitely improving…so watch this space!!

Squad: Edward Hetzel (c), Arran Hoad, Harrison Pirt, Jacob Ideson, Jacob Patterson-Yates, Charlie Haines, Bailey Lawson, Scott Walsh, Oliver Edwards, Rhett Flashman, Reuben Jones, Tom Newman, Sam Mckay.

Brockham hosted two teams from Walton Warriors in a friendly this weekend. We decided to play four short halves of fifteen minutes each, as we had only nine players and they had fourteen.

In the first two halves, Brockham took control with amazing team play. Two goals came from the defenders' nightmare Kemal Dogansoy, three from the lightning Jamie Donegan, one from the thunderous Edward Denham, and two from the light footed Chris Collis.

Mathew Appleton was unlucky not to be added to the score sheet, whilst the safe hands of our goalie Jacob Vaughan and our fearsome twins Jamie and Alex Finn kept the score line at 8-1.

The second game was a bit more challenging as Walton had fresh legs and were not covered in mud and soaking wet from the many downpours.

However, Brockham started well with two goals from Dogansoy. But as the pitch got boggier Brockham found it ever so hard to pass the ball around. As Brockham's legs began to tire, Walton fought back tremendously and not only recovered the defecit, but took a 4-2 lead, with just the final half to go.

Brockham came out fighting after the interval with all our players getting stuck in - quite literally. It was the lightning thunderous Donegan who closed the score to 4-3 and,with about a minute left, lightning struck again with Dogansoy levelling the scores in this fantastic game of football.

It was a wonderful team performance - and a morale booster ahead of next week's return to league action.

Following last week's narrow victory over Redhill St. Joseph’s, the young Badgers started their next encounter with more confidence. 

The first minutes were end to end until Brockham started to move into space and pass the ball with more conviction.  The youngsters broke the Albury defence with a through ball from Issberner to Austin, who promptly stroked it inside the left hand post to put Brockham one ahead. 

Issberner and Austin then continued to pressure the Albury keeper who parried well, but only to Fairley, who drove the ball  into the back of the net for 2-0.   

Early in the second half a stray hand in the penalty area saw Brockham awarded a spot kick which Torpey duly dispatched.  Brockham then hesitated in defence and the Albury attack was quick to pounce and stab the ball past the stricken goalkeeper to close the margin to 3-1. 

A Torpey long ball out found Austin who headed it over his marker, before going around the keeper and placing it in the back of the net – a fabulous effort!  Austin then burst up the left hand side, drew the goalkeeper and passed across to Hurst who completed a 5 - 1 victory for the Badgers. 

There were times during the game where the youngsters treated us to strings of passes usually reserved for another side of youngsters in red and white who we often see on television! Without a doubt it was the best performance that the U9A team have put on to date!

Player of the Match: Harry Fairley

Squad: Matthew Ford, Harry Fairley, Callum Glenn, Justin Hurst, Joseph Issberner, Jed Simister, Aidan Torpey, Max Austin

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CODES OF CONDUCT
Brockham Badgers prides itself on creating the right atmosphere for youth football to flourish.
We have separate Codes of Conduct for Players, Parents and Managers.
These will be rigorously enforced.
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BROCKHAM GIRLS
Brockham Badgers is keen to promote the development of Girls' Football in Surrey. Pictures from our first season of league action are here.

See pictures and details from the U9s and U10s first ever tour - to the Battle of Hastings Tournament in 2006.
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