GREEDY GILBERT SEALS BADGERS WIN

Another Saturday, another comfortable three points; Broxbourne’s perfect start to the season shows no sign of stopping after they demolished Upminster 5-0 at Badger Field to make it eight wins from eight games.

With confidence flying high after last week’s 8-1 hammering of Havering, the Badgers put their foot on the throttle from the first minute and were encamped in the Upminster half. Broxbourne created several chances in the early stages but were forced to wait until the 16th minute to open the scoring and it was from a familiar source. Chris Hopson won a short corner and Ben Scarrott drag flicked low to the keeper’s left for a 1-0 lead.

The Badgers were in complete control with keeper Ryan Thomas a virtual spectator in goal. Despite their dominance they only had the one goal to show and were forced to wait until just before the interval for the cushion of a two goal lead. Again, a short corner provided the breakthrough, Scarrott this time the provider for his younger brother Louis who ruthlessly flicked the ball into the roof of the net for a 2-0 half time lead.

Upminster had been sitting quite deep but down by two were forced to come out of their shell and started to press Broxbourne high up the pitch at the start of the second half. The tactic made no difference to the shape of the game with the backline of George Blemkin, Josh Chapman, Charlie Frederick and Dan Ellis dealing easily with the pressure, confidently moving the ball out of the back into midfield.

As the half progressed Henry House was becoming an increasingly dominant influence on the game. The youngster’s quick stick skills combined with Ferrari like acceleration over five yards were impossible for Upminster to deal with. House continually broke through the midfield lines and one of his driving runs won the short corner which made the score 3-0. Ben Scarrott did the rest with another precise flick past the motionless keeper.

Minutes later the game was effectively ended as a contest when Scarrott completed his hattrick with another flick. It continues Scarrott’s remarkable comeback from a back injury, the forward has banged in ten goals in three games since his return.

There was still time for one more goal with Russell Gilbert continuing his strong form in front of goal by grabbing the fifth. Gilbert, sporting a Basil Fawlty like collection of bum fluff under his nose (please donate here: https://uk.movember.com/mospace/14119084? ), added to his growing reputation for goal theft by stealing one on the line from Stan Mason’s shot. There can be little sympathy for Mason though; the youngster takes no prisioners himself in front of goal and started the team-wide trend with an even more blatant robbery on the opening day of the season from Toby House.

Next week the Badgers head south for a showdown with Waltham Forest under the lights at the Olympic Stadium