Wednesday 25th September 2024
Brocton u18s v Stafford Rangers u18s
Midland Floodlit Youth League
The young Badgers came into this game with high spirits after their victory last week against Pershore Town in the FA Youth Cup.
Once again, the young Badgers started the game well, a few early chances went astray but from the very beginning they knocked the ball about beautifully in the very wet conditions, leading to the first goal from Dylan Millington, who took advantage of a misunderstanding in the Rangers backline to open the scoring. 1-0. A loose pass back to Zane Wegehaupt went straight out for a Brocton corner with the resulting corner being whipped to the back post, meeting Jude King who headed the ball down into the ground, bouncing over the goalkeeper to double Brocton’s lead inside fifteen minutes. 2-0. Before long, the Badgers had a third, King picking the ball up out wide and with great skill driving inside to find Millington on the edge of the box, who laid it into the path of Rafael Torchalla who arrived on the overlap to smash home for three. 3-0. The opening ten minutes of this game looked fairly even between these two local rivals, but once Brocton opened the scoring they didn’t look back, going on to dominate possession and create chance after chance. Rangers had won themselves a corner and as it bobbled about inside the Brocton box, a dangling foot tapped it slowly towards the goal, but Webb was able to dive from one side of his goal to the other to palm it away and keep his clean sheet. Closing in on half time, more great play in midfield, won back after Rangers gave the ball away cheaply once again, Liam Prendergast slipped in Millington on the overlap, who whipped a ball across the face of goal to find Archie Saunders unmarked at the back post. 4-0. And a minute later it would be five, as King was able to find Joe Wilcox making a run in behind and he side-footed it past the on rushing goalkeeper. 5-0.
The half-time whistle blew on a fantastic half for the boys in green, the rainy conditions really seemed to aid their passing of the ball as it zipped across the surface, compared to Rangers who seemed to struggle – a few errors may have made this scoreline more flattering than it should be, but take nothing away from the Badgers who took the chances they had brilliantly.
HT: Brocton 5-0 Stafford Rangers
Coming into the second half, there was a chance the young Badgers could become complacent due to their large scoreline, but that wasn’t the case as they carried on doing everything they’d done so brilliantly in the first – a free kick from a Rangers offside was pumped long by Will Webb inside his own half to Millington, who backed into the centre back and brought the ball down spectacularly, spun and then fired his shot into the net to make it six just ten minutes into the second half. 6-0. Things didn’t seem to improve for Rangers at half-time, some changes made them more dangerous on the counter, but they still couldn’t retain possession. A corner around the seventieth minute was whipped in by Theo Reid onto the penalty spot and found Millington once again who completed his hat-trick with a simple finish. 7-0. Wouldn’t be long until Reid would be involved once again, this time running towards his own goal in a footrace after an uncharacteristic loose pass, the ball pulled back to forward Jahnieh Miles, but his shot blazed over. The Rangers changes began to make some trouble for Brocton as the game entered it’s final fifteen minutes, another chance for Miles went amiss after he was rushed into shooting by the Brocton defence – in response to the rejuvenated Rangers team, the Badgers showed experience in attempting to slow play down and keep possession to ride the storm. Hassan Mujahid found himself running through on goal, but a great sliding challenge by Leo Yates denied him, allowing Brocton to go straight up the other end and finding substitute Oli Rouse on the right wing, cutting inside, and shooting but the ball continued to rise. Eventually the Badgers would get another to subdue Rangers, a deep cross into the box from alongside the technical area was put onto Wegehaupt by Riley Harvey, but unfortunately in the rainy conditions the ball slipped out of his outstretched hands and flew over him and into the net. 8-0. Approaching full time, another corner from Reid was uncontested by any Rangers players, allowing substitute Tyler Draper to get in on the scoring and bag himself a birthday present to make this game 9-0. Another strong game from Liam Prendergast, who attempted a late shot from range, almost troubling the goalkeeper in the wet conditions, and it wouldn’t be long after that the final whistle blew with a statement result from the Badgers, beating their local rivals by a frankly embarrassing scoreline.
FT: Brocton 9-0 Stafford Rangers
Brocton didn’t allow the large scoreline to affect their performance, giving 100% all the way through the game, really showing their maturity and ability as they knocked the ball about fluidly all game, blowing Rangers off the park.
Brocton u18: Will Webb, Liam Prendergast, Theo Reid, Leo Yates, Cooper Marsh, Henry Smith, Dylan Millington, Rafael Torchalla, Jude King, Archie Saunders, Joe Wilcox; Subs: Riley Harvey, Oli Rouse, Tyler Draper, Jackson Knight, Eddie Hobbs
Stafford Rangers u18: Zane Wegehaupt, Conner Irving, Jacob Bowmaker, Luca Heath, Ethan Laval, Luke Swinbourne, Zane Johnson-Hughes, Matty Jones, Jahnieh Miles, Lewis Dilks, Lewis Satchwell; Subs: Andy Orlenas, Harry Rowe, Oscar Henson Beaty, Hassan Mujahid, Reiss Harding
Report from Zach Whitton
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