Ospreys Fall to Dominant Badgers!

WCFC U13s Badgers continued their excellent start to the season with a comprehensive away win over Larkhall Ospreys on a grey autumnal afternoon in Bath. The Badgers made their now characteristic strong start to the game, forcing the Ospreys back into their own half right from the off. Jack almost opened the scoring in the first minute, shooting narrowly wide from a defence splitting pass from Toby. The Badgers tactic of playing balls through the channels for Jack and Jenson to run on to was working well. The pressure finally told when a perfectly weighted ball from Lewis released Jack down the right who unselfishly squared to his strike partner Jenson to side in for his second goal in consecutive games. The second followed soon after. Sonny, having a storming game in the middle of the park, won the ball and fed it to his midfield partner Toby, who's long range shot crept in to the corner of the net past the unlucky Larkhall keeper. Such was the Badgers control that the first Osprey's shot wasn't until the last minute of the quarter, which William was able to watch go harmlessly past his far post. The second quarter continued in the same pattern. The defence, expertly marshalled by centre half Bailey with Ash and Harvey at full back, were competing strongly with the Ospreys who, condensing the play on a small pitch, were trying to press through the centre. On the rare occasion they got around the back, Man of the Match Captain Oli was there to sweep up, in the right place all the time to quell the danger. That gave the platform for Badgers to attack. Bailey had a free strong kick well saved by the keeper. Freddie, now upfront, was combining excellently with Eddie on the righthand side . A burst forward from Eddie played Jack in only to be denied again by the keeper, having an excellent game. Only his form and the comparatively small goals kept the score down to 2-0 at half-time.

The second half saw the Badgers passing play as hot as the air in the balloons now sailing overhead. The 3rd finally came when Morgan first won the ball at left back, allowing Theo, as hard working as ever, to cut into the box from the left hand side and fire into the corner with his right foot. A 4th almost followed immediately when a beautifully floated cross from Eddie was headed powerfully into the top corner by the Jack, only to be ruled out for offside. The 4th quarter saw more desperate defending from Larkhall, throwing their bodies in the way in a scene reminiscent of the Alamo to keep out close range efforts from Reggie, Sonny and Toby. It was therefore somewhat against the run of play when, from a Badgers goal kick, the ball broke loose on the edge of the box for the Larkhall striker to fire a strong shot into the bottom of the Badgers' net. It proved only to be a consolation as Badgers rounded things off in style when another burst through by Theo ended with his shot rebounding of the keeper and Freddie was on hand to tap in his first goal for the club, a goal his non stop effort richly deserved. So it ended 4-1, the best all-round performance of the season so far from the Badgers against a talented, spirited and hardworking Ospreys side in yet another entertaining game in Division Red. A win which takes Badgers into the half -term league break with a 100% record, keeping them second in the table on goal difference from Chippenham.