Brantham Badgers continued in their winning ways wirth an emphatic 13-1 win at home against Riverside from Stowmarket. Despite a heavy pitch both teams played some good passing football but Brantham made the conditions work for them and by half time had a 8-0 lead.
As we had so many goals, again, I will list the goals in the order the Badgers rattled them home.
Goal 1 -came after just 3 minutes. Craig Clarke broke down the flanks and fed the ball through to Jamie Carrington who in turn side-stepped a challenge and laid the ball off for an oncoming Ross Cracknell to hit home from inside the arera. A minute later a great through ball picked out Sean Kearney who beat the offside trap and drew the keeper to him and just as Sean was going to hit it home he was tackled and lost the chance.
Goal 2- came from a good break from the back and after a well worked move Ross Cracknell, from a wide position, put the ball across for Jamie Carrington to hit home at the far post.
Goal 3- Alan Backhouse started the move and seeing Jamie Carrington starting to make a run he played an inch perfect ball through for Jamie to run onto and with our opponents looking for offside,which never came, Jamie beat the keeper at his near post. Riverside had a chance when the ball was put into the Badgers area from a free kick and with the Badgers defence caught out a forward latched onto the ball and with just the keeper to beat he blasted it over.
Goal 4- saw the move started at the back and again Alan Backhouse was involved, feeding the ball through to Craig Clarke. Craig waited for the keeper to come out and as he did Craig side-stepped hom and put the perfect shot into the corner of the goal.
Goal 5- saw Graham Stiff and Ross Cracknell involved with the ball being played into the path of Sean Kearney who left his marker for dead and run on and bast the ball home
Goal 6- saw Sean Kearney make a defence splitting pass across the area for Jamie Carrington to hit home. The keeper got his hand to it but could not stop it going into the net. That goal gave Jamie a well deserved hat-rick,but more was still to come !!
Goal 7- saw Lee Clarke break out from the back and wemnt through a rather static Riverside defence and put in a cross that Jamie Carrington hit home with a shot that gave the keeper no chance
Goal 8- started with a good ball out from Ashley Bowdler and Craig Clarke made ground, beat his man and passed across the area for Ross Cracknell to hit home.
The second half started with Guy "Big-show" Clubb coming on for Alan Backhouse and Guy, as usual, was soon getting involved in the game.
Goal 9- saw the ball played into the Riverside area and Ross Cracknell picked the ball up and seeing the keeper starting to come off his line Ross cracked it home at the far post.
Goal 10-saw Ross become the provider when Guy made sure in a meaty tackle that the ball was going to be his and he passed to Ross Cracknell who side-stepped a challenge and he laid the ball for Craig Clarke to run onto and Craig made no mistake with a fierce shot. Ross Cracknell then had a shot cleared off the line by a quick thinking defender.
Goal 11 - came when a good three man move ended with the ball being played out wide to Craig Clarke who jinked past one man asnd put the ball over for Guy Clubb to power it home into the roof of the net. Guy also managed to get hit in the face when both Guy and an opponent went to head a ball and they collided but luckily neither was badly hurt.
Riverside's goal - Riverside, despite being on the end of a mauling, never gave up and they pulled a goal back when a forward was given time and space to hit home leaving a slightly injured Ash Bowdler no chance at all. We then heard his team mates shout - "we only need another 10 more" but all credit to Riverside who despite being beaten by a large score never resulted to any dirty tackles and at the final whistle were still playing some decent football.
Goal 12- Ross Cracknell made ground down the flank after a good pass from Lee Clarke and he passed the ball through to Craig Clarke who hit it home on the run.
Goal 13- the final goal of the game and this time it was Darryn Bowdler and Graham Stiff who started the move that finished with Jamie Carrington hitting home our 13th and his fifth goal of the game.
A top class result for the Badgers and I appreciate that it is the goal scorers who get a lot of the credit, but this was a real team performance with EVERY SINGLE PLAYER HAVING A TOP CLASS GAME. We had a injury worry about Ash Bowdler who had a problem during the game,but he picked himself up and dusted himself down and carried on. Guy Clubb, a man who gives 100 per cent in every match he is involved in had that injury when he collided with an opponent, but both carried in after treatment. Ash in goal, despite having problems, had a top class game and could not have been faulted for the one Riverside goal. The lads at the back played their part, as did the midfield foursome, while up front the Badgers have men who can certainly knock the goals in.
barry felgate
