Badgers Storm the Keep!

WCFCU14s The Badgers put Castle Combe Colts to the sword in a highly competitive and entertaining top of the table clash at a sunny Northbrook stadium today. The Badgers named an unchanged team and the same 3-4-1-2 formation that demolished Warminster last week. They made a strong start to the game so it was a surprise that they went behind straight away. The Castle Combe keeper launched a long goal kick which evaded Badgers' skipper Oli, the only time in the match, for the Combe number 10 to race through and plant a confident finish past a helpless Badgers' keeper William. That set back just spurred Badgers into life and they came charging back. Sonny and Korey dominated midfield, crunching into tackles and feeding the ball quickly onto Archie or out wide to Eddie or Ashton. The equaliser came on 9 mins. In a combination seen many times on the training ground, Eddie played an excellent through ball for Jack to run through and slot the ball into the corner of the net. The Badgers were now in their stride, playing some quick flowing attacking football with only the final pass and a little composure preventing them unlocking the Colts. Ashton, Bailey and Archie all had good chances whilst at the other end, Bailey was having a good duel with the fast Colts number 10 and coming out on top and Theo was playing with typical combativeness, showing great anticipation to win first ball. On the rare occasion that the Colts broke through, skipper Oli was always there to calmly sweep up, leaving William in goal a spectator. On the stroke of half time Teddy hit a sweet shot with his left foot across goal which looked headed for the far corner only to agonisingly go just past the post, so leaving it 1-1 at half time.

An injury meant a half-time reshuffle with Bailey having to be replaced in defence by Korey, meaning Archie dropped back into midfield and Nathan came on in the number 10 position and Jenson came on on the right. The changes didn't affect the flow of the game, with Korey being strong and dominant at the back and Nathan posing a real threat upfront. After a period of concerted pressure the Badgers finally took the lead on 46 minutes. Jenson lead the press down the right by not giving up a lost cause and won the ball feeding Nathan in the box and his unorthodox high looping shot could only be helped into the top corner of the net by the unfortunate Castle Combe keeper, Nathan's second goal in consecutive games. The goal may have been a touch fortunate but deserved as the Badgers were pushing the Colts back constantly. The third came 9 minutes later when Jack, who worked tirelessly right across the front line all game burst through on the right and was upended in the box by the Colts keeper. Jack picked himself up and coolly dispatched the penalty for his 23rd goal of another extraordinary goal scoring season. Teddy then burst through the centre to fire just wide but with one minute left it was left to man-of -the-match Sonny to capped another all action midfield performance with a deserved first goal of the season when he burst into the box to fire high into the roof of the net to make it four. There was only just time for the Colts to grab a consolation second goal from a free header, only their second chance of the game, before referee Mark called time on another excellent Badgers performance. Overall, it was a tremendous effort from everyone of the 14 players to overcome a well organised and strong Castle Combe team in an entertaining game played in a good competitive spirit. A result which keeps the Badgers second in the league, albeit having played 3 more games than their nearest rivals.