Badgers March On!

WCFC U14s The Badgers earned an impressive cup victory over rivals Chippenham Town on Sunday at a wet and windy West Lavington. With the game switched due to Stanley Park being waterlogged, the Badgers made 2 changes to the starting line-up from the last game, with Jenson coming in on left midfield as Ashton moved inside to replace the absent Korey, and Toby replacing Sonny who was ill. With the wind blowing across the pitch into one corner, it was a fairly low key start to the game with both teams struggling with the conditions and cancelling each other out. It was Chippenham who posed the first threat, with their no 21 striker showing his pace as he burst past Bailey down the right only for William G to make a smart save with his legs at his near post. A free kick from the Chippenham left flashed right across the Badgers box and was just itching to be finished. That scare and some vocal encouragement from the bench finally sparked the Badgers into life and on 11 minutes a clever high looping shot from Teddy was pushed over the bar by the Chippenham keeper. The Badgers defence were now starting to get on top, doubling up on their main threat with Jenson, then Bailey going tight allowing skipper Oli to sweep up if he got past them. 2 goals in 3 minutes swung the game in Badgers favour. The first came on 18 minutes somewhat against the run of play when from a throw in down the right from Eddie, showing great opportunism Jack burst into the box and squeezed the ball home from a tight angle. The second came after Badgers first flowing move of the game between Eddie, Ashton and Archie allowed Jack to get off a fierce shot which the Chippenham keeper could only palm out into the path of Ashton following in to sweep the ball home. Still Chippenham were threatening especially down their right, so a tactical change saw Harvey introduced at the back to bring his pace to neutralise the threat. He turned in a Man of the Match performance, showing great athleticism and strong tackling, to do just that in arguably his best performance to date in a white shirt. It allowed the Badgers to gain ascendancy, with Chippenham dropping deep with 8 men behind the ball providing space for Toby, Ashton, Archie and Teddy in particular to start to pass the ball around with composure. The 3rd goal on 29 minutes came straight from the training ground. Bailey put in a dangerous corner from the left which the keeper did well to tip over the bar. But not to be denied, his next was even better, looped sumptuously right over the keeper and straight into the far corner of the net. Due reward for Bailey for his hard work practising the skill in what is such a potent Badgers weapon. He was unlucky that the same in the last game was credited as an own goal! Nathan was next to go close. Getting straight into the action, he flashed the ball narrowly over the bar from another corner and then both he and Theo, now operating in left midfield, were so close at the far post as they lunged to try and turn in a dangerous cross from Jack from the right. The half ended with Archie firing a dipping shot just over the bar, following a surging run from his own half down the right by Eddie, to leave the Badgers comfortably in control at 3-0.

The second half started with a heavy downpour which made note taking impossible. Both Teams were pushing on admirably. As in the first half, Chippenham made a strong start, showing more adventure and pushing men forward to chase the game as they had to. The Badgers were forced to defend tenaciously and tackled fiercely to withstand the pressure and protect William G well. A tactical switch again turned the game back to the Badgers, with Archie dropping back into centre midfield and Jack occupying the number 10 pocket. A sweet passing move saw Archie drive forward and play into Jack who's lay off was sweetly stroked into the bottom corner of the net by Toby from just outside the box to make it 4-0 That goal took the sting out of Chippenham. After a dog invasion temporarily paused play, the Badgers took control again, with Oli now having the freedom to maraud forward, confident that Theo and Harvey had the backdoor firmly shut. Jack completed the Badgers scoring with 12 minutes to go when he followed up to score after Nathan's smart shot was saved. With the game won, the Badgers then relaxed understandably, allowing Chippenham to score two consolations that their effort probably deserved, the first from a surge through the centre and the second with the last kick of the game from a direct free kick from the right, to make it 5-2 at the end. And so the Badgers march on into the next round with their 4th win on the spin, and another highly impressive all round performance against a determined Chippenham Town team that they had to fight hard to suppress early on.