SUPERB SHORT CORNER DISPLAY SILENCES SUDBURY

Broxbourne were able to build on their improved performance of last week to notch their first win of the new year with a 4:2 win over Sudbury on the road.

The Badgers started well and began to push on into the Sudbury half from the off; left midfield Gemma Wilkinson linking well with the forward line leading to several early chances. An intelligent piece of play by Em Wilkins found a foot in the Sudbury D leading to the first penalty corner of the half. It was clear the practice had paid off as a pinpoint injection by Lisa Banahan was stopped flawlessly by Wilkinson to allow a powerful strike from Wilkins which slid into the bottom left corner; 1:0 Badgers.

The second corner followed soon afterwards and a cunning left slip to Becky Watkins allowed her to send a disguised slap to the far post; fooling the Sudbury defence into making an accidental deflection, knocking the ball into the net. 2:0 Badgers.

The home team's heads seemed to go down after this and Broxbourne were increasingly able to push forward, centre back pairing of Watkins and Laura Wills setting up camp on the half way line. Broxbourne notched another before half time; a cross from the right by Tor Stacey finding forward Charlotte Skipp who finished with ease. 3:0 Badgers.

The Sudbury coach had clearly read the riot act to his team at half time as the home team came out after the break with a new intensity and some last ditch tackles were needed from the defence to maintain the clean sheet.
However the momentum seemed to have turned and it felt as if a goal for the home side was on the cards. 10 minutes later the skills of the Sudbury centre forward were too much for novice centre back Wills and Broxbourne were unable to stop a superb reverse stick strike which found the bottom corner, taking the score to 3:1.

Sudbury looked bouyed by the goal and began to attack with more vigour.
The Broxbourne defence held firm however the game became exceedingly scrappy, tensions between the two sides mounting and several green cards being shown to the home side.

Broxbourne were able to capitalise on the one man advantage in a superb run down the right by Stacey who calmly found a foot in the opposition D to win a further penalty corner. This time a textbook link up between Wilkins and Wills bypassed the Sudbury defence to allow Wilkins an easy finish to restore the visitor's 3 goal cushion. 4:1 Badgers.

Sudbury continued to come at the Badgers defence and won a succession of penalty corners of their own. After a few near misses and a stunning goal line save from Banahan the home team notched one back of their own, mimicking Broxbourne's own penalty corner goal with a zig zag routine to take the score to 4:2.

The final minutes were intense, with all 11 of the Badgers counting down the time to the final whistle. Relief came as the umpire blew with the visitors delighted to mark their first win of the new year cementing their place in 3rd.
Better news came later in the evening as The Badgers heard that their rivals Canterbury had dropped two points in their own weekend fixture, narrowing the gap between the two to only 2 points.
The Badgers face bottom of the league BromBeck next week and with possible promotion on the cards will be keen to add another 3 points to their tally.
3pm start at Badger Field.