FANTASTIC FREYA KEEPS BADGERS IN CONTENTION

Broxbourne returned to Badger Field this week in their last home game before the Christmas break. They faced visitors Upminster; currently nipping at their heels in fourth. With the visitors coming off three wins on the bounce with a total of 12 goals the badgers knew they would be in for a tough fight.

For thirty minutes the game balanced on a precipice. Both teams were clearly aiming for the three points and were closely matched in ability.
Although no-one could criticise the Badgers work rate, their decision making was somewhat questionable, causing coach Matt McDonell to mutter some choice phrases which are not appropriate for print.

The breakthrough came in the form of the Badger’s new signing Kerri Marshall, scoring her first goal of the season for Broxbourne. A quickly taken free hit from Rebecca Ellis found veteran Gemma Wilkinson on the left who executed a pinpoint perfect pass to Marshall. Beating the last man, Marshall looked calm under pressure and pushed the ball home with ease.

Now the deadlock was broken it seemed the floodgates would open and Broxbourne scored their second soon afterwards. The visitors looked deflated by the opening goal and could not cope with the new intensity the Badgers showed going forward. Charlotte Skipp found herself on the ball in the D and casually turned into her player to put the ball onto a defensive foot, wining a penalty corner. A straight strike from Em Wilkins found captain Lisa Banahan on the left post whose excellent deflection ended up in the roof of the net. If Banahan keeps up her scoring ways she may not look so surprised next time the ball ends up in the net.

With just seconds to go before half time goalkeeper Freya Green was called into action. The complacent Badgers were overloaded in defence and Green found herself as the only man left against two Upminster forwards. Green rose to the challenge in world class fashion, sprinting off her line and executing a majestic stick save which Maddie Hinch would have been proud of.

The second half began in similar fashion to the first. The visitors had clearly been spoken to at half time and started with a renewed vigour. The end to end nature of the game punished the Badgers soon after the restart when a Broxbourne attacking penalty corner broke down. The opposition were quick to capitalise, overloading the Badgers defence. Unfortunately this time there was nothing Green could do and the nifty Upminster forwards scored their first of the day, taking the score to 2:1.

A few minutes later Green was called into action again, this time poor marking by the defence had left her in a one on one situation with the visiting centre forward. The agile Green was quickly off her line and after the loose ball. Making a beautifully timed sweep tackle she cleared the ball from the D, leaving the forward to clatter into her pads in the vague hope of a penalty which needless to say, was not forthcoming.

With only one goal in it the tone of the game became somewhat frantic with questionable tackles from both sides. The Badgers went down to 10 men with 10 to go as the usually unflappable Wilkins told the umpire exactly what she thought of his decision making, earning her a deserved two minute suspension.

Tor Stacey put the final nail in the visitor’s coffin as she set off on a meandering run from the half way line towards the D. Ignoring the cries from the bench to “just get something” Stacey showed off her silky skills, firing a forehand shot off the back foot which left the opposition star struck as it hammered into the backboard.

Final score: 3:1 win to Broxbourne, keeping them in third place on goal difference. Man of the match voting was unanimous and deservedly went to goalkeeper Freya Green. Undoubtedly, without Green’s excellent performance the Badgers would have been on the other end of the scoreline.

The Badgers are away next week to Folkestone in a not so local derby. Here’s hoping they can cope with the jet lag to bag another win to keep them in contention.