Two goals from Bobby Dyer and one from James Elliott were enough to earn Broxbourne the draw. However having been 2-0, and later 3-1, up there was certainly a feeling after the game that the three points were there for the taking. Unfortunately this was not to be, with the defence inexplicably conceding from a fifth consecutive short-corner (over the past two matches) and later from a missed opportunity to clear the ball away from a melee in the D. Lastly, the disappointing equaliser came from some poor marking of their lone striker.

Still, even with the lead squandered, there remained some fantastic late opportunities for Broxbourne to take all the points, but these were unable to be converted.

Nonetheless, with all things considered it was a very positive day for the team.

The next venture for the Brox Mens 4s is away against Harpenden.

Mens 3s
Shefford & Sandy Mens 2s 4-2 Broxbourne Mens 3s

Mens 3s lost 4-2 at their away fixture against Shefford & Sandy. Goals for KP and Hayden.

Next weekend the Mens 3s take on Bishop's Stortford.

Mens 2s
Broxbourne Mens 2s 1-3 Stevenage Mens 1s

Mens 2’s

The mens 2’s played at home against Stevenage, a game we would have loved to win.
Unfortunately in January the 2’s are rubbish and we lost 3-1. Jack Price scored (well done Jack). Jack Price scored an own goal (bad Jack).

The end

Mens 1s
Norwich City Mens 1s 8-1 Broxbourne Mens 1s

At the weekend, the Badgers traveled to top of the league Norwich. Despite the quality of the opposition, the Badgers were keen to compete and show the improvements that had been made since the heavy defeat inflicted at Broxbourne in the first half of the season. Norwich made a fast start, pressing Broxbourne hard and turning the ball over high up the pitch. Capitalising on turnovers, they raced into 5-0 lead including some smartly executed finishes. In a man of the match performance, Ryan Thomas made sharp saves throughout the half to limit the score Despite the scoreline, Broxbourne began to find their feet at the end of the half and started to retain possession and make better connections between the lines.

In the second half, the Badgers raised their levels again and competed far better with Norwich. Despite early corners won by Broxbourne, it was Norwich who scored the first goal in the half. Broxbourne continued battling and scored a deserved goal as Toby House's strong strike dropped to Chris Hopson in front of goal to lift into the net. Norwich were relentless and scored a further two goals before the match drew to a close. Despite the heavy defeat, the team improved significantly on their performance earlier in the year and, particularly in the second half, raised their standards to compete against strong opposition.

Ladies 5s
Saffron Walden Ladies 5s P-P Broxbourne Ladies 5s

Unfortunately the Ladies 5s game was cancelled due to a frozen pitch.

Ladies 4s
Broxbourne Ladies 4s 7-0 Letchworth Ladies 5s

Another 4 for Brawny as Broxbourne take the win.

After the slow start last week, the Ladies 4XI started quicker off the mark this week. The return of some of the team, helped Broxbourne find more shape this week and they began to show signs of the teamwork that was on display before the Christmas break.

Donkey this week once again went to Tors, for failing to remember to wash her kit until the day of the game. This was decided upon before the game had even started.

With Georgia absent this week, the team were thankful for Emma, who stepped in to guard the goal and display some wonderful runs to scare the opposition.

Letchworth put up a good fight and had some key players able to disperse the Broxbourne players with impressive hits. A special mention must also be given to their goalie, who prevented the score line from being much greater with some quick reactions and movement across the line.

Thommo displayed patience and skill to draw the defenders and create some fantastic play to provide a plethora of opportunities on goal for the attack. Up front in the middle, Brawny, who was shadowed constantly by two of the opposition, obviously had eaten her Weetabix as she was running non stop to either draw the players away or escape to bag herself another 4 goals to add to her already impressive tally. Laura provided the runs down the pitch spurred on by The Bowden Badgers.

The defence, although rarely challenged, were able to deal with the breaks that did occur and some lovely teamwork between Frankie and Tors, saw the ball very rarely reach their D.

Sue and Alice were solid in the middle with great support from Jayne, Roisin and Ava on either side.

Goals this week were again shared around. Brawny put away 4 with Laura, Alice and Thommo all grabbing one.

Next week it’s a late one at 4:15pm, we take on Shefford & Sandy away and hope to continue the success.

Ladies 3s
Broxbourne Ladies 3s 2-1 Welwyn Garden City Ladies 2s

Ladies 3’s take 3 points for the second week in a row.

Buoyant from a dominant display the previous week, the 3s started the game with their tails up. Despite missing two vital players Hannah and Kelly, there was the return of Charlotte, Chloe and Ali. Pressing high up the field they gave Welwyn little chance to impress their game and the first goal came via a hit from Charlotte, which after what felt like 5 minutes eventually crossed the line. Rose definitely needs the assist on this as her pass to charlotte was fantastic. Her new stick is doing wonders.

1-0 up Broxbourne continued to dominate and frustrate the opposition, when Welwyn did try and break they were met with a resilient backline who cleared any danger.
Just before the break Broxbourne doubled their lead with a goal from Ali, who decided this week to break away from her normal donkey vote and go for MOM instead. Sadly, she left her stick after the game so normal voting was resumed.

A clean sheet was not to be this week when 35 seconds from the end Welwyn decided to pull a goal back, but it was too little too late and Brox took all three points.

Next week the ladies 3s take on Blueharts ladies 4s.

Ladies 2s
Welwyn Garden City Ladies 1s 0-0 Broxbourne Ladies 2s

Missing some key players this week (including Charlie Mills off on her mid hockey season annual ski trip and Radio's Jess Iszatt at work or partying, not sure if there's a difference), the Ladies 2s travelled to Welwyn Garden City. Although not the result we hoped for and a goalless game - thanks to some great saves from Kim and Poppy on the line a couple of times - a Wetherspoons match teas with enough to feed the 5,000 was worth the trip, plus a point for the 2s in the league table for the first time this year.

The Ladies 2s take on mid-table Berkhamsted & Hemel at home next weekend!

Ladies 1s (friendly)
East London Ladies 1s 3-2 Broxbourne Ladies 1s

Broxbourne scored first with Em putting away a pin point pass from Kerri. East London got an equaliser moments later but the Badgers responded with a short corner straight strike, again from Em.

In the second half East London responded with two more goals in the final quarter after some high risk tactics from the Badgers to prepare for their first league game of the second half of the season against Beeston on Feb 5th.

Sunday 23rd January

Juniors

Our youngest badgers travelled all over Hertfordshire this weekend with hopes of scoring goals and having lots of fun!

The under 8’s tournament took place at Broxbourne, with half of the team missing due to covid, the remaining 4 baby badgers had a massive job ahead of them. They were absolutely amazing and managed to win 3 out of 4 of their games and goals all round.

The under 10 girls took two teams to St Albans and after a slow start (mainly due to it being very early) they made some amazing passes and worked well in their teams. There was some brilliant defending and saves off of the line and beautiful crosses which saw plenty of goals.

The under 10 boys travelled to Blueharts for a late start and saw them step up to the top tier competition for the first time. They played amazingly well and can be very proud of their efforts.

Our under 12 boys had an early start at Blueharts and like the girls team struggled to get going in their first game. Coach Fresh managed to wake them up with some inspired words and the next few games saw them playing at their best with lots of goals and great passing among the team.

We had two under 14 girls teams playing at Broxbourne later in the day. Coach Tara was very impressed with both teams, many of the girls are new to hockey this season and the progress they have made is amazing. Could we be watching the future ladies 1st team in action?!

Finally our under 14 boys team played in Harpenden, the team were also hit with some covid cases but the boys that made it played brilliantly with lots of fab tackles, passing and goals all round.

Well done to all of our baby badgers!

Mens O40s
Witham Mens O40s 3-5 Broxbourne Mens O40s

Broxbourne Masters over 40’s took to the road for the first time in the current campaign with an away trip to Witham. They welcomed Paul Dover back to the club and gave a Masters debut to Chris Curtis for what looked on paper to be a tricky fixture.

The Badgers started the game well and controlled the early passages of play, building well from the back with Evans and Fradley feeding the midfield who in turn started to exploit the spaces created up front. Broxbourne’s early dominance paid off after 15 minutes with a break down the right which resulted in a fine individual goal from Panners, reverse stick from the to of the D into the bottom left corner….with a couple of bobbles along the way! The chances started to flow with some good overlapping work from the debutant Curtis at right back mirrored by the energy displayed from a marauding Ellis on the left. The second goal came from a short corner, a straight strike from Brown was well saved by the keeper but Dover was alert and calmly finished off the rebound. The “young” forward pair of Panners and Kitching combined well for the third, with Dover dispatching a tidy reverse stick shot for the fourth. The half time whistle went, and the Badgers went in 4-0 up.

A touch of compliancy seemed to run through the team as the second half got underway and the lead was soon reduced to 4-2 with two quick goals from a rejuvenated Witham team. Witham were now in the ascendency and a touch of ill discipline started to creep into the Broxbourne side. Ellis saw yellow for a somewhat overzealous challenge on the Witham centre forward and Witham soon notched their third to leave the match in the balance at 4-3 with 12 minutes to play. As Witham pushed for the equaliser gaps started to appear in their defence which were finally exploited when Kitching bagged his second of the day following a good interchange with Cranfield. Broxbourne now await the draw for the last 16 as we approach the business end of the competition!

Ladies O35s
Leighton Buzzard Ladies O35s 7-1 Broxbourne Ladies O35s

The vets O35s travelled to Leighton Buzzard on Sunday for the second round of the plate competition. Centre Midfielder Kay Finch was ruled out of the fixture late Saturday night with an injured calf, but luckily veteran debutant Tors Bacon stepped in last minute to boost the squad back to 14.

The badgers were also bolstered by the return of legendary badger Annie Thomas following a hamstring injury that had prevented her from playing in the previous rounds. She made quite the entrance in her vintage shell Badger tracksuit which was the talk of the low intensity warm up.

It was Thomas who produced the best chance of the first half for the Badgers when she fired a shot off her right foot at goal, but it narrowly missed the post. Leighton Buzzard were a dynamic and slightly more youthful side, who managed to convert chances early on, despite some outstanding saves by Kim Hellery in goals and solid defence by Tara Haddock. Player of the match Baz distributed well in midfield, along with Laura Seaman, Sue Thomas and Alice Waller to keep the badgers in the game. The badgers were 4-0 down at half time, but spirits remained high.

Kerri Marshall and Gemma Wilkinson made some probing runs in the second half, with Marshall denied when the whistle went just as she was taking her shot on goal. Milly Shand had a excellent shot from the resulting short corner following a rebound, but it went wide by millimetres. However the badgers finally broke the deadlock when Marshall broke though again with a long run from the half way line, which resulted in her taking the keeper on and scoring! The badger defence was continously tested with Lorraine Ellis and Jayne Poynter and Tors Bacon making some great goal saving tackles in the last 10 minutes, plus diving saves from Kim Hellery. The final score was 7-1, but coach Emily Wilkins had nothing but positive feedback for the veteran badgers who gave it their all until the final whistle went.

What’s coming up this week:

Friday 28th January
The Badger Quiz is back! Join us at the club from 7pm on Friday for another quiz, raising funds for the Ladies 1s travel. £5 per person. Hope to see lots of you there!

Saturday 29th January
Mens 3s (H) @ 10:30 v. Bishop's Stortford M2s
Mens 1s (H) @ 12:30 v. Blueharts M1s
Ladies 2s (H) @ 14:00 v. Berkhamsted & Hemel L1s

Mens 2s (A) @ 11:30 v. Bedford M3s
Ladies 3s (A) @ 11:45 v. Blueharts L4s
Mens 4s (A) @ 15:15 v. Harpenden M3s
Ladies 4s (A) @ 16:15 v. Shefford & Sandy L3s