Wednesday 23rd October 2024
Brocton u18s v Walsall Wood u18s
Midlands Floodlit Cup
The young Badgers returned to Silkmore Lane after their defeat away at Coalville Town last week in the FA Youth Cup.
Looking to bounce back, the Badgers started quickly as Dylan Millington picked the ball up on the right wing after a lovely pick out from Cooper Marsh, but the shot was nothing to trouble the goalkeeper. Brocton focused much of their attacks down both flanks, with Millington and Oli Rouse causing the Walsall Wood defence trouble throughout the match; another early chance fell to Tyler Draper on the edge of the box, but the shot travelled over the bar. Jude King once again caused problems, dropping deep into midfield on occasion and taking up advanced midfield positions, he was able to find Rouse on multiple occasions but the efforts on goal weren’t enough to beat Lewis Mills. For much of the first half, it didn’t seem that the young Badgers had gotten out of third gear and were able to dominate possession without much trouble – Marsh and Matt Tuck’s distribution from defence gave the opponents much trouble. One of these long balls was met by Mills, who told his defenders to leave it as he knocked it past one Brocton player but quickly ran into King, who wrestled the ball off him and chipped it over the back-peddling keeper and the other Walsall Wood defenders to give the Badgers a 1-0 lead. Brocton continued to control possession and knock the ball around the pitch confidently, great build-up play led to several chances but lacked that final ball to really put the game to bed. When Walsall Wood did get hold of the ball, all they could muster were long balls, of which were usually dealt with comfortably by the Brocton defence. Rouse continued to cause trouble, gliding across the pitch every time he picked up the ball, chopping inside and beating Joe Thompson before getting his shot off, but once again it was straight at Mills. Within the following minute, the Walsall Wood defence was called into action and they mustered three goal-line clearances to fantastically keep Brocton out once again, after a ball into the area ping-ponged about before eventually being cleared. A corner in the thirtieth minute was returned out wide and whipped into the danger area and onto the head of Millington to finally double the Brocton lead, but unfortunately, he strayed offside, and the flag went up. As the first half came to a close, the Brocton defence, who until then hadn’t put a foot wrong, began to play loose passes as they became lethargic after their total domination and no real threat; luckily, these mistakes weren’t capitalised on by the opponents and the half ended 1-0.
HT: Brocton 1-0 Walsall Wood
The Badgers began the second half similarly to how they’d played throughout the first half, Millington produced some great skill inside the Walsall Wood byline and took a tumble inside the box, but the referee waved play on. During the first half, Brocton’s defence had an easy time due to a lack of press from their opponents; this changed at half-time as changes up top meant the introduced forward pressed the Badgers, meaning the ball was knocked about at a quicker pace. Around the fiftieth minute, play stopped for a while after one of the Walsall Wood players limped off the pitch due to a painful looking fall off the ball, when play resumed so did the flow of the match with Brocton continuing to dominate possession but struggling to find that final pass. Both Henry Smith and Darragh O’Connor worked tremendously hard to win every second ball in midfield, limiting the counter-attacking opportunities of the visitors. On the hour mark, King picked the ball up deep once again, turning and heading for the byline before fizzing a pass across the face, meeting Draper at the back post to finally get Brocton their much-needed second goal. 2-0. The second goal seemed to invigorate the visitors, almost immediately going up the other end as the ball was fizzed across the face of the Brocton box but no-one arrived in time to tap home, another chance fell on the edge of the box but a strong block from Smith put the ball out for a corner. The preceding corner wasn’t dealt with by the Badgers, ping-ponging around the area before a dangling leg tapped the ball into the net to make the score 2-1. Brocton then stepped up a gear, finally, and within a minute of their opponents scoring, won a corner thanks to some great feet from King again – the ball looped over to the back post where three Brocton players queued up to score, but it was defender Riley Harvey to bundle the ball over to re-instate the Badgers’ two-goal advantage. From this the Badgers went from strength to strength, overloading the flanks and overwhelming the Walsall Wood fullbacks, Rouse picked the ball up inside and unleashed from twenty-five yards to thunder another one home, rooting the goalkeeper, and grabbing himself a well-deserved goal and the home side a 4-1 lead. The final ten minute saw much of the same from the Badgers, who saw the game out comfortably, and the final whistle blew on a dominant display from Brocton.
FT: Brocton 4-1 Walsall Wood
Brocton: James Hough, Riley Harvey, Eddie Hobbs, Matt Tuck, Cooper Marsh, Henry Smith, Oli Rouse, Darragh O’Connor, Jude King, Tyler Draper, Dylan Millington; Subs: Leo Yates, Liam Prendergast, Kieran Scott, Rafael Torchalla, Archie Saunders
Walsall Wood: Lewis Mills, Archie Wagstaff, Joe Thompson, Callum O’Brian, Aaron Brown, Jay Smallman, Max Andrews, Theo Pratt, Harvey Walker, Cameron Wilde, Zion Omar; Subs: Life Muganza, Shequani Gobbidon, Jude Davis
Match report from Zak Whitton
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