Saturday 14th January
Ladies 1s - Home vs Harleston Magpies - 2-1 loss
The sensational revelations from Ben Scarrott's hockey memoirs “Spare Stick” have rocked the entire Sport's Club this week, with Badger midfielder Alice Brown at the centre of Scarrott's allegations regarding the disappearance of not one but two of his hockey sticks.
Despite the Brown conviction, the Badgers played a successful weekend of hockey first holding Harleston Magpies to a score of 2-1, despite losing 6-1 to the side away the previous week. The Badgers found the net within the first five minutes following “Fox in the Box” Gemma Wilkinson earning a short corner, and Emily Wilkins putting the ball between the keepers’ legs much to the delight of the home support. Despite multiple attacks by the Magpies, Charlotte Skipp made a number of outstanding tackles, combined with saves by Amy Way in goals to keep the badgers ahead before half time. Coach Harry Hill joined the side for the second half, notably removing the fox from the box and putting her at left back to test the nerves of the home support. But Wilkinson showed her class and experience, slotting into the back line seamlessly to join fellow Hoddedon Hotties Lisa Banahan and Tor Stacey, plus Becky Scarrott who lives in Ware. The relentless Magpies earned a number of short corners, with a goal line clearance intercepted to put the score back level. The Magpies press then earned them a breakaway goal in the last five minutes and despite some outstanding efforts by Alice Brown, Em Wilkins and Becky Scarrott to earn a last minute short corner, it wasn’t to be for the Badgers – although the outcome didn’t reflect an excellent home performance. A second Player of the Match in a row was awarded to Charlotte Skipp and a predictable donkey to Alice Brown.
The Badgers travel to Norwich next Saturday and remain 6th in the East Premier League.
Ladies 2s - Home vs Shefford & Sandy - 2-0 win
Following last week’s unfortunate loss in the league, the 2s arrived ready to secure a win on home turf.
With Kim and Lauren back in action, but Katie and Beth in bed this week, the line up gathered in the changing rooms to see the last of the secret santa presents unveiled. Ali was pleased to unwrap a pair of knee pads, which she confidently decided to “save until next weekend”, later regretting that decision.
After a rather short warm up the 2s found their motion and began the game playing well and looking the stronger team. Some beautiful play down the middle and left allowed for a number of short corners and some great attacking play. A goal came in the first half from a fast run down the pitch between Ali and Vic, with Ali left in charge to slot it round the keeper.
The second half saw a few close calls for the badgers but were calmly and confidently cleared by our trusty defence. A short corner early on enabled Charlie to take a strike and put us 2-0 up.
A nasty fall from Ali paused play for a few minutes. A green bruise immediately appeared on her knee (should’ve worn the knee pads) and rumours have it, the F bomb as she fell could be heard all the way to boyfriend Martyn’s game at Old Loughts.
Some more attacking play continued and a beautiful transfer round the back made its way across the pitch to Hannah on the right, who perfectly dribbled it over the line. Side line, not goal line.
A great team effort now places the Broxbourne Ladies 2s back in second place in the league, with a tough match approaching next Saturday against Blueharts.
Joint player of the match went to Hannah and Charlie, and Donkey unsurprisingly to Ali.
Ladies 3s - Away vs Luton Town - 3-1 loss
The Defensive Three
This week the ladies 3's took themselves all the way to Luton. Hoping the rain would hold off and to our suprise it did.
We stepped onto the carpet looking pitch with our centre back missing. Hope you feel better soon Tara.
We started off getting used to the pitch with some quick passes from kirsty Ella Laura and Amelia in the middle working are way up the pitch into the attacking D.
Some great crosses in by Fixy and Alice but we just couldn't get that goal.
Sadly not everyone of our passes were strong and we lost the ball to Luton. They were very quick on the return and to our frustration they scored leaving Luton 1-0 up.
We continued to dig deep and work hard despite Luton's best effort Sharon made a save off the line to stop them from going 2:0 up. During the half time team talk we agreed to play our game, work on passing the ball forward rather than the long ball.
We started well in the second half, moving the ball around and getting olivia to mark number 13 constantly to take her out of play. With some great link up play. This resulted in a great team goal from Hannah.
Yet again Luton broke and they were back in our defensive D they hit a strong strike which was saved my Em and rebounded to another Luton player. They tried again with another strike which was stopped on the line by Lauren and cleared swiftly to the right.
After a few defensive short corners and a ball to Rachel's head, sadly the game ended 3-1. However Broxbourne 3's were still in high spirits.
We have joint Donkey and Players this week.
Our players of the match go to Olivia for sticking on number 13. Then our defensive back 3. (Lauren Rachel and Sharon)
Donkey's of the match go to Hannah for her short corner miss and also the Defensive 3 (Lauren, Rachel and Sharon) for the scramble in the D.
Next week the 3's finally have a home game taking on Stevanage 10:30 at home.
Ladies 4s - Home vs Berkhamsted & Hemel - 1-1 draw
The last game of a women's packed day at the Badger field saw Brox L4s line up against Berkhampstead & Hemel L3s.
The L4s met pitch side to a full stadium, which soon halved by the time the L1s finished their game. L5s captain and some team mates did, however, stay strong in the cold temps to support and see the day out.
Brox were geared up to get the game underway, but were under no illusion that this would be a easy game. For some, the ringing reminder of the 8-1 defeat in the reverse fixture on the opening day of the season was something to improve on. And improve we did.
Brox started the game with push back and straight away the opposition showed that they were here to play. Early on in the first half, Berko & Hemel were starting to create some good attacking chances, one of which lead to a very acrobatic triple jump impression and an early call for a short by the opposition, however this was waved away by the umpires.
Brox made sure they were in and around the ball and pressed well from the front, frustrating the opposition. The defensive line of Brox had to be on top form and held strong through the many attempts on goal.
The game was starting to open up with Elinor working hard to beat her player and break down the right, although these attacks then were thwarted before any real attempts on goal could be made.
0-0 Half Time
The second half was much the same, with Brox showing determination to keep this game tight. The midfield started to play some nice combination passes and the defense were holding their own, although there were many heart in mouth moments as Berko & Hemel were awarded a couple of shorts.
With 15 mins to go, Brox were able to finally test the opposition GK with a clean strike on the bounce by Jo. Everyone stopped with baited breath, not knowing where the ball landed until the infamous sound of the board being hit was heard.
1-0 Brox, scored by Jo, assisted by Ava (I know this, because she came running over shouting, I'm taking the assist).
This goal, to the delight of Brox, frustrated the opposition and the game was turned up another level. Berko & Hemel were awarded a short and a great goal bound strike was stopped by Lorraine on the line at the back post. On the second attempt to fully clear the ball, an unfortunate slip allowed the opposition to cut the ball square and shoot, levelling up the score line.
1-1.
The last few mins saw both sides conservatively push for another goal and a great tackle by Tara in the Brox defence made sure the score stayed 1-1 when the final whistle came.
Final score 1-1.
Brox walked away somewhat disappointed with just 1 point from the game, yet they demonstrated how much the team has come together and improved since the opening game of the season.
A massive thank you this week to Jen and Milly for helping out the 4s, the supporters, and umpires.
A great effort by the whole team this week. Player was close, lots of votes but the winner is tied between Ava and Elinor. Donkey this week goes to no one, which is testament to the effort we put in as a team.
Next week the 4s travel in the morning to take on Stevenage, hunting for another 3 points and offer proof that this squad can match up with the best of this league.
Ladies 5s - Away vs Saffron Walden - 1-0 loss
We were back at the Badger Den this weekend and looking for a win or draw against Saffron Walden who are above us in the league. A comprehensive team talk from Lisa highlighting what we needed to focus on and needing 100% from everyone. Re-covered the free hits in attacking 23 that we practiced on Tuesday for those not at training. And we were ready!
Walking over to the pitch we got caught in a deluge of rain which didn’t bode well but luckily this stopped just as we were warming up and held off for the whole game. With our team of 13 plus plenty of supporters we started the first half well, mostly keeping our shape and applying plenty of pressure. However, Saffron Walden made a couple of good breaks which ended in shots on target – thanks and well done to Lily for some excellent saves after 17, 25 and 26 minutes. We weren’t so lucky at 34 minutes when they snuck one across the line just before half time.
Spirits were a little low during our half time team-talk but a pep-talk from Lisa got us back focused. More communication was needed on the pitch and less ball chasing.
The second half remained fairly even again with us trying to implement everything we’ve been practising. We had a shot that was saved by the Saffron Walden goalie after 7 minutes and that remained our best chance.
Saffron Walden broke again a couple more times with 2 further great saves by Lily. We retaliated with some great pressure in the attacking 23 but just couldn’t find the back of the net. Frustration started to creep in and this dampened spirits in last 10 minutes. But we kept it to 0-1 and we will come back positive and fighting next week when we are away for a late game at WGC.
Player of the match to Lily for the amazing saves and donkey to Katie for forgetting to play the correct way down the pitch at the start of the 2nd half. We thought she was putting into practice the ‘you can always play backwards and go for the transfer’ with her great run down the right side (left to her) but she gave it away when she stopped running when she saw Mumma B in front of her – ooops!
Mens 1s - Away vs St Albans - 5-3 loss
Broxbourne made the short trip to St Albans for a rematch following last week’s 3-1 loss at Badger Field. Despite a much improved display it was a similar result as they fell to a 5-3 defeat to their Hertfordshire rivals.
The Badgers were boosted by the return of top scorer Mitch Chapman, Henry House and crucially key player Toby House. The younger House sibling had confidently proclaimed in his pre match press conference that his return would prove to be the difference between the two sides and lead to a Broxbourne victory. St Albans seemed unconcerned and a quick poll pre match revealed most of their side were unaware who he was.
Skipper Phil Bryans wisely tweaked his tactics and system following the resounding defeat last week. The Badgers were more aggressive in the press from the off which gave them an early foothold in the game. They took a deserved lead in the 12th minute when Matt Menear found the top corner with a drag flick from a short corner.
St Albans responded immediately and were 2-1 up before the half time interval. A break down in marking lead to a free shot from the top of the D which the St Albans forward finished clinically. Shortly after, a counter attack left keeper Joe Wilkinson one on one and the debutant unfortunately upended the forward which lead to a converted penalty flick.
It would have been easy for Broxbourne’s heads to drop but the visitors came out of the traps fast to start the second half. The Badgers won a flick of their own which Chapman calmly converted. House then backed up his pre match bragging with a reverse stick shot which found the gap between the keepers legs to give Broxbourne an unexpected 3-2 lead.
As was the case last week, with 4 subs to call upon, the extra legs made the difference in the second half for St Albans. 2 goals in a minute from well worked deflections turned the game on its head and restored their lead.
Broxbourne kept pushing for an equaliser but an untimely slip by Henry House presented the home side with a 5th goal on a plate to give the final score a slightly flattering look at 5-3.
Mens 2s - Away vs Shefford & Sandy - 4-1 loss
The 2s traveled to Shefford and Sandy on Saturday hoping to put their pre Christmas form behind them. They had managed to scrape 12 players together and started well. Playing the ball around nicely looking solid in defence and getting a few chances in front of goal. Sadly it wasn’t long before our defence was breached with a pass beating pod for a tap in at the back post. Brox continued to play well but Sandy got another just before half time. There were positive talks at half time, but our fitness levels were no match for their full squad. A drag flick made it 3-0, but the 2s continued to fight. Tom Halle pulled one back and the push to get more was on. However, in the flight to get back into the game Brox left themselves too thin at the back and were caught on the counterattack.
Mens 3s - Home vs Cheshunt - 6-4 win
Following on from last weeks 0-0. The 3s decided to add a few more goals to entertain the crowd that had got out of bed for the 10:30 start. Just like the weather the goals came pouring. Brox started strong, retaining the ball well. This was all undone though, with a through ball by Cheshunt leaving Joe one on one. Five minutes later the same happened again with the same outcome. Brox 2-0 down. That’s what happens when you have a centre back pairing of AJ and Russ who struggle to out run a snail. Brox then found their attacking mojo, playing some lovely passes and having some good attempts of goal. However, it took a great ball in from Jack and a miss control from Russ to beat the keeper. With brox still celebrating, Cheshunt played another through ball with the same out come as the previous two putting them 3-1 up. Not a great showing so far. Brox carried on attacking and before halftime they had brought it back to 3-3 with Hayden at the double. A deflection and a rebound off the keeper.
The halftime team talk of pass the ball around and keep leading to create options went very well when Brox lost the ball in their own D by trying to dribble out rather than playing the simple pass, leading to a short corner. 4-3 within a few minutes of halftime gave the 3s a sense of deja vu, but they didn’t panic. Maintaining that attacking play from the first half Kitch managed to score, putting to bed the rumours he might be past it after last weeks misses. KP then followed up with a goal of his own. A drag flick from a short corner down the middle of the goal to the keeper’s feet. Joe Wilkinson told me later at the bar that those are the hardest ones to save. Now 5-4 up Brox weren’t done scoring just yet. Kav rounded a defender to get in the D, put it on to his reverse, and smashed it home. Looks like someone’s been taking the Toby House reverse stick masterclasses.
Mens 4s - Away vs West Herts - 5-2 win
The Broxbourne Mens 4s continued their season after the Christmas break with a convincing win at West Herts. The away side stormed to a 3-0 lead through Harrison Lang and a Max Hartwig-Green double. The hosts managed to pull a goal back, but the lead was swiftly restored by Andy Bourke. The 4-1 half-time score made for good reading for Broxbourne, who knew that they needed to maintain the high standard shown in the first half to ensure the win.
Play resumed with West Herts gaining more control in the game, but it was Broxbourne who in fact got the next goal. Max Hartwig-Green secured his hat-trick with a fine reverse-stick finish. Unfortunately the final minutes of the game saw West Herts reduce their deficit, though the points were certainly in the bag for the away side.
It was a great day out for the young Broxbourne team, with impressive performances from everyone. A special mention goes to James Devonald-Smith, for making his senior debut and to Simon White for once again stepping into goal and producing some wonderful saves.
Sunday 15th January
Ladies 1s - Away vs Bury St Edmunds - 3-1 win
It was redemption for Brown on Sunday when she opened up the scoring for the Badgers’ re-arranged away fixture against Bury St Edmunds. After a mixed start to the game, which saw Amy Way making crucial early saves to keep the score level, the Badgers converted a well worked short corner, with Brown placing the ball in the back of the net to break the deadlock. The side welcomed the addition of Ellie Welsh up front, who joined Kerri Marshall, Nads Wheadon and Blond Bombshell Baz Sparrey to pin the home side with an impressive press performance. Laura Wills was unable to make the away fixture, as she presented her findings on grade 2 bruises at a medical convention in Singapore, so she was replaced in midfield by the versatile veteran Gemma Wilkinson. The combination of Skipp and Wilkinson on the left hand side allowed the Badgers to attack up both wings, with Stacey, Wilkins and Marshall and Welsh proving deadly up the right hand side. Another corner was converted by the Badgers before half time, with Kay Finch finding the backboard from the injector position from a short corner. The second half saw the home side get a breakaway goal back, but the Badgers kept their nerve and managed to add to their tally in the dying moments courtesy of a direct strike by Emily Wilkins from a short corner. Ellie Welsh earned player of the Match for her outstanding pace and winning of multiple corners...and it was donkey again for Alice Brown despite her goal.
Mens 1s - Home vs Upminster - 1-0 win
Broxbourne snapped their two game losing streak with a hard fought 1-0 win at home against Upminster in a rearranged game from the December cold snap.
The first half was a forgettable affair, both teams clearly feeling the effects of playing 24 hours earlier. Very little pace or intensity was evident from either side and the few chances of note fell to the visitors, thankfully keeper Joe Wilkinson was on hand for some timely saves to keep the scores level.
The Badgers were forced into a reshuffle early in the second half when defender Matt Menear was forced off through injury. With Menear’s long range passing no longer an option Broxbourne were forced to bring Phil Bryans back into defense and shorten up the passing out of the back. This gave the home side more of a grip in midfield with Ed House and Stan Mason starting to move the ball in and out the channels.
Despite having more control there wasn’t much in terms of end product with Upminster still looking dangerous from counter attacks and the Essex side won several short corners. Wilkinson kept the visitors at bay and when a shot finally beat him the youngster was to relieved to see the effort cleared off the line by veteran Will Fradley.
Broxbourne’s possession eventually resulted in an outcome in the D when they won their first short corner. A well worked move ended with Bryans flick being blocked on the line by a defender’s body leaving the umpire no choice but to award a flick. Mitch Chapman made it 2 flicks in 2 days with a composed finish from the spot to give Broxbourne the lead.
One goal didn’t lead to two and a nervy final 15 minutes ensued. Broxbourne suddenly became turnover prone and allowed Upminster to stay in the game. The game looked to be over when the usually clinical Toby House was presented with a chance unmarked 5 yards out, from point blank range he somehow found the defenders stick on the line and the game remained on a knife edge.
Despite some threatening balls into the Badgers area the home side held firm to secure a vital 3 points.
Next week the Badgers welcome local rivals Hertford to Badger Field.
Ladies 2s - Round 3 cup game vs Reading 3 - 8-1 loss
With Reading 3s eager to play on Sunday 15th January, the Ladies 2s and some innocent 3s travelled to Reading to play in the third round of the Tier 3 cup. Vic conveniently left out some vital information that they were in fact in a league above us and the very top of that league. It was going to be a very tough game.
We needn’t say too much about the game. They were good, very well drilled and brought a team of 16. The first half finished 5-0, and Beth scored in the second half!! But only one, and they scored 3. Final score 8-1.
We had some great moments of play in the game, and we put up a great fight against a strong team. One review was that it was “a slightly defensive game” and another was “we’d have lost by a lot more if it wasn’t for Kim”.
Some great pizza for teas and an almost unanimous player of the match vote went to Kim. Donkey was shared between Ali (for being Ali), Hannah Fixter and Jane Fixter.
We’re out of the cup and don’t have to worry about any more Sunday games for now.
Coming up next weekend...
Saturday 21st January
Ladies 1s - Away vs Norwich City
Ladies 2s - Away vs Blueharts
Ladies 3s - Home vs Stevenage
Ladies 4s - Away vs Stevenage
Ladies 5s - Away vs Welwyn Garden City
Mens 1s - Home vs Hertford
Mens 2s - Home vs Blueharts
Mens 3s - Away vs Blueharts
Mens 4s - Home vs Blueharts
Sunday 22nd January
Ladies O35s - Home vs Colchester