Pre-season friendly - Brantham Athletic Badgers 3 Capel A 2
The Brantham Athletic Badgers played their first pre-season friendly match at the 'BadgerDome' ( Brantham leisure Centre) on Sunday and started off well with an impressive 3-2 win.
The Badgers started well and were soon putting the Capel team under some early pressure with Sean Kearney causing Capel problems with his direct running down the flank. Paul (Sunflower) Hammond, taking his place in goal,started off confidently and was soon involved, making two good stops. I must make the point that the only reason the 'Sunflower' symbol came about was because Peul had a bright yellow goalkeeper top!!
Capel had the first real chance when a forward broke through but under pressure lifted the shot over the bar from inside the area. Sean Kearney almost broke the deadlock for the Badgers with a well worked run down the right flank and his deep cross was cleared for a corner.Sean then sent in a great centre and Greg Ranson. running in, miscued his kick and it went wide. Capel opened the scoring after 15 minutes when a man broke through and netted with a lofted shot over the Badgers keeper. The Badgers upped their game again with Justin Vince and Lee Clarke pushing the ball forward at every opportunity. This paid off when a great three man move involving Graham Stiff and Alan Blackhouse ended with the ball being played to Ross Cracknell who beat his marker and hit the ball home at the near post. Badgers 1 Capel 1. Ross, who was playing well both wide and down the middle, certainly caused the Capel defenders problems and was unlucky with a shot on the run that was not that far wide of the target.
Badgers pushed forward again and Greg Ranson made room for him self and his effort was cleared at the last minute to deny him a goal. Guy Clubb playing upfront, caused problems for the Capel back four and Guy was involved in the move that finished with Craig Clarke sending in a fierce shot that beat the keeper but was just over the bar, Steven Goodchild who had also just come on was getting involved and his fast running down the wing saw the ball played into the area but a snap shot was just wide of the Capel goal. Guy then moved into the back four and had a commanding match, getting involved in everything that was going on. Craig Clarke then saw two top class efforts beat the Capel keeper but each time just shave the bar.
Capel regained their lead when a forward cut in from the left and sent in a hard shot that Paul Hammond could not stop, despite almost getting to it. Badgers 1 Capel 2. Badgers picked themselves up again and went at their opponents and they drew level with a very well taken goal by Steven Goodchild, a fair reward for all of his hard work. Badgers 2 Capel 2. In the next Badgers attack this time Guy Clubb saw a well placed header cleared off the Capel line by a frantic defender. Badgers had the ball in the next a few minutes later but it was disallowed for offside. Badgers got the winning goal when Sean Kearney, who had done a tremendous amount of work down the flank, set off once again, beat his man and cut inside and sent a great shot into the top corner of the net,leaving the surprised Capel keeper clutching at fresh air. Badgers 3 Capel 2. Both sides were feeling the effect of a very hot morning and the last few minutes saw both sides keen to just knock the ball about in midfield.
A good start for Badgers at their new home and in front of a good sized crowd, Well done lads!
The Controller
