Ladies 1s travelled to St Albans with a much smaller squad than usual. Unfortunately four players tested positive for covid, rumour has it that they spent too long with Lisa who is known as the Broxbourne super spreader!

Due to the curse of the CB a new formation was created where we had hardly any defenders, our only hope was that Tor wouldn’t succumb to the same fate as the 12 previous CB and manage to last the whole game!

It was a positive start for Broxbourne against a strong opposition, there were several opportunities for Broxbourne on the attack but despite winning a couple of short corners it was St Albans who scored first with a goal in the dying seconds of the first quarter.

Broxbourne bounced back brightly and looked confident in the second quarter with player of the match tor controlling the defensive D brilliantly. The second half proved tough for the badgers, despite the whole team working hard St Albans continued to make the most of fresh legs and managed to score four more in the second half. Broxbourne are looking g to bounce back next week worth their last home game of the season.

Ladies 2s travelled away to Bishops Stortford also with only 12 players but the sun was shining and spirits were high. Multiple nominations for Donkey of the day before we had even stepped foot onto the pitch came from Emily B who dented Charlie’s car in the car park on arrival and Cerys who only turned up with 1 sock! Brawny was all chat before the game about her impressive goal scoring records, however she showed the 2s how to do it and managed to put the team 2-0 up in the first 15 minutes by slipping the ball past their GK on a 1-1 twice! The game went downhill for the Broxbourne team from there. After missing out on a flick because ‘the lifted ball was dangerous, it doesn’t matter if it is a shot on goal or not’ was quoted at our challenges by the umpire, frustrations were high. Rosie managed to win herself Donkey of the Day by questioning another interesting decision and ended up receiving a yellow card, which proved her point when we continued with 11 players anyway. Final score 4-2 to Bishops Stortford L2s. Player of the match went to Emily Boxal.

Ladies 3s faced Rickmansworth at home in a tough game and unfortunately the game finished 3-1 to the opposition, despite Broxbourne's goal keeper having an excellent game and doing her best to keep the opposition out.

Ladies 4s took another convincing win away at Berko & Hemel. Read the full match report here.

Ladies 5s were playing away at Luton this week. Broxbourne got off to a good start with Millie getting 2 goals in the first half. The second half saw Broxbourne conceded some penalty corners, however ongoing good defensive play kept a clean sheet for the team and with Millie getting another one to claim a hat-trick, it gave Broxbourne a well deserved 3-0 win.
Player of the Match was shared between Millie for her hat-trick and Ella with another strong performance playing center mid.

Mens 1s travelled to Dereham for their penultimate game of the season. The Badgers made a fast start and took an early lead through two corners converted by Mitch Chapman. The Badgers continued to control the game and Sam Groves deflected a corner into the foal as the half time whistle blew. Dereham responded in the second half and scored an early goal before clawing there way back into the fame with a further 2 goals. With the scores tied at 3-3 Broxbourne pushed forward for the winner and got it with the ball landing to Chris Hopson in the D to finish. A great win for the team and made for an enjoyable minibus back to the club.

Mens 2s had a nice home game this week in the sunshine, which put a fresh look on the faces of the Broxbourne team despite some having not had much sleep and kept the rest of the team up with messages to the group at all hours of the night! The lethargic start allowed the opposition to go 1-0 up at half time and then 2-0 at the start of the second half. Jack missed an open goal, however Browny came to save the team by getting 2 goals, even if the second one might or might not have come off Lance’s foot. Dan did some excellent dribbling and runs on the ball, shame many of them were straight off the back of the pitch. Joe achieved no man of the match votes, despite making at least 1 save. Broxbourne managed to get a winning 3rd goal to give them the full 3 points and confirmation that they would be staying up in this league.

Mens 3s rocked up looking at the youthful opposition which was in strong contradiction to the mostly vets M3s, and decided this was going to be a day to ‘just enjoy the game’. Dan Hopson took on the whole midfield chasing through with players on either side but decided not to pass the ball. Kitsch found the goal and kick started the Broxbourne pressure. An experienced Broxbourne back line used this experience to their advantage and kept a clean sheet. Cranners turned up and scored from nowhere. Half time the Brox Masters (aka M3s) are 2-0 up. Dan shot a goal from a short corner. Josh also found the backboard but was declined the goal for it being ‘too high’. Cranners turned up again putting it on the defenders foot for a 3rd goal. Brox are now cruising. Fresh got himself a green card for ‘simply asking a question, oh and I might have wagged my finger and used some bad words at the umpire a little’. Josh demolishes the oppo distributing well until such time as Kitch on the half way line and slams the ball through to Hayden who might have reached it 10 years ago. Brox got a 4th goal and finished 4-1. Back to the clubhouse to celebrate confirming their position staying in this league.

Mens 4s following wins from all the other mens teams had a lot of pressure on their shoulders, and with minimal support as everyone was already drinking in the bar! They put on a good performance and continued the run of getting points by finishing on a 2-2 draw against Blueharts M4s.

Coming Up
Next week is the final game for most of our teams:
Ladies 5s (H) @ 10:00 v. Chiltern L2s
Ladies 2s (H) @ 11:30 v. Harpenden L1s
Ladies 1s (H) @ 13:30 v. Loughborough Student 2s
Mens 1s (H) @ 15:00 v. Ipswich - East Suffolk M1s
Mens 3s (H) @ 16:30 v. Cheshunt M1s
Mens 2s (A) @ 13:00 v. Royston M1
Mens 4s (A) @ 14:00 v. Hertford M4s
Ladies 3s (A) @ 10:30 v. Harpenden L2s
Ladies 4s (A) @ 11:30 v. Blueharts L5s

Weeks after:
02-Apr Ladies 1s (A) @ 12:30 v. University of Birmingham
02-Apr Ladies 5s (A) @ 10:30 v. Saffron Walden
09-Apr Ladies 4s (A) @ 11:30 v. Royston L2s