By Lisa Banahan

The Broxbourne Ladies 1s booked their place in the East conference National league next season, with an epic 2-1 victory against fellow promotion contenders Cambridge City 2s away from home.

Charlotte Skipp justified her 6 figure signing by putting away Kerri Marshall's pass to the far post with 2 minutes left on the clock. Marshall received the ball in the D courtesy of a Becky Scarrott sweep delivered from the half way line, and put into action a move designed at Thursday’s training session by captain Laura Wills. Marshall drew in the keeper and delivered the impeccably timed pass to Skipp, who took the opportunity to roll it over the goal line before beginning her typically boisterous celebrations.

With regular coach Matt McDonnell still absent after progressing to the finals of the break dancing world championships in New Zealand, Richard Wilkinson stepped in as caretaker manager for the crucial tie. His pre match motivational talk drew on his considerable experience as a club stalwart, and demanded a ballsy performance from the side.

Pip “tit" Evans showed her competitive edge even before the game started in the tunnel. Evans went right for the jugular, launching a verbal broadside on a former Cambridge team mate for taking time off due to a mere bruised foot. Evans was in dangerous territory, having missed 9 weeks of the season herself after being hit on the foot, but emphasised that a bone bruise needs to be viewed as a totally different injury.

The Badgers had a brilliant start to the game, with Emily Wilkins immediately putting the Cambridge defense under pressure with her aggressive runs down the right hand side. It was only a matter of time before the Broxbourne dynamic forward line manufactured a short corner. Becky Scarrott has been progressing her strength work in the gym all season, and some recent tutelage from her long term strength and conditioning mentor, Lisa Banahan, has progressed her onto the infamous pink weights at the team’s weekly Crossfit sessions. Scarrott used her extra muscle to produce a devastating strike following a left slip to put her team in front.
The central defender dedicated the sum of her season's player votes, an impressive 3, to Banahan’s inspirational weight lifting program.

Broxbourne continued to dominate in midfield for the first 20 minutes, with Kay Finch and Laura Wills stifling the play down the left hand side. However, the Cambridge press began to make life difficult for centre back partnership Evans and Scarrott, outletting from 16s, and the Badgers struggled to hold on to possession. Cambridge earned some short corners in the lead up to half time, but the Broxbourne short corner defense held firm. Defenders Stacey, Cattermole, Scarrott and Evans made some crucial tackles in the lead up to half time to keep their side ahead. Coach Wilkinson’s message of valuing the ball in possession rang true in his half time talk, and both his casual tone and casual dress sense kept the team relaxed going into the second half.

Cambridge continued to pressure the Broxbourne defense, and the Badgers were thwarted by cards for most of the second half, at one stage only having 9 players on the field. When the captain of Broxbourne was issued a card for repeated back chat from the team, as she was on the bench, the valiant Gemma Wilkinson sacrificed herself to take the 2 minute penalty. As the only parent on the team, she is referred to as “Mother Earth Pig", but finds herself this week the subject of endorsement controversy. Having had her personal sponsor “Ticketer” displayed on the back of her skort in the last two games, kit sponsor Zotti have objected to such a large advertisement space being used by a competitor, and claim it is in violation of contract.

With 15 minutes left on the clock, Cambridge were awarded a penalty corner for an alleged push by the Pip ‘tit' Evans, who was issued with her first card of the season. In the post match press conference, the ever humble Evans pointed out that “ if he best defender in the Universe can be issued with a card, it shows that anyone can make a mistake".
The Cambridge drag flick was deflected in off the stick of defender Lisa Banahan, and the score was levelled for the first time. Banahan, as a young member of the squad, suffered a drop in confidence, suddenly declaring that she didn’t know what she was doing following a long corner blunder down the right. It was centre midfielder Alice Brown who valiantly stepped up to take Banahan's long corner on the left for a Broxbourne last ditch effort, reassuring her that she equally didn’t know what she was doing. Brown, as always astutely aware of the fines issued to teams for multiple cards, made it clear to her team that she couldn’t afford a hike in match fees, and urged them to discipline themselves.

The Cambridge onslaught continued and the Badgers were indebted to keeper Freya Green who kept her side in the game on a number of occasions; most importantly successfully keeping out a break away attack where she was left alone with a striker in the D, seconds after the Cambridge goal.

Little did the side know that a draw would be enough for promotion following the Wapping loss to Brom Beck, but the Broxbourne final goal came in perfect time to settle the side. After Skipp finished her lengthy celebrations, there were 2 nervous minutes left on the clock. A Cambridge aerial was fielded by the Broxbourne defense, and Scarrott made a decision with 19 seconds on the clock to put the ball over the side line. The gripping tale of how she had counted down from 19 seconds following her clearance was a favourite with the press after the game, who were also impressed by her ability to count backwards from 19 in such high pressure circumstances. She attributed her outstanding numeracy to her strength and conditioning coach who has a PhD in mathematics.

Superfan Sam Gates, feeling left out as one of the only members of the squad to not be issued a card, decided to storm the pitch when the final whistle blew, but luckily got away with a warning from security officials. He has been their most loyal supporter all season and the Badgers insisted on him being in the post match photo shoot with them. The support of club heroes Annie Thomas, Kim Bames and, as always, manager Georgina Green was also much appreciated on such a big day for the club.

The team returned to the Badger Den for a heroes welcome, and were lavished with champagne and Papa John’s pizza as National League heroes. Alice Brown’s precarious financial situation made it impossible for her to join in the entirety of the celebrations, and Emily Wilkins’ remark, referring to her as a “Waster" was unfortunately caught on camera late last night in the vicinity of Pop World. The clip has had 150,000 views already on social media. Wilkins claims she was referring to Brown not completing the drink given to her, but photographs of Wilkins looking a shadow of her usual photogenic self are emerging on social media already, clearly aware of the offense this may cause to her teammate of little means.

The Badgers are grateful for all the support they have received throughout the season and wish to thank Coaches Matt McDonnell, Sam Marchant, Fresh, Manager Georgina Green, Superfan Sam Gates, their captain and vice-captain Laura Wills and Tor Stacey, for all their hard work.

Viva Le Badgers!