6th XI Match Reports

Winchmore Hill 8th 3 - 3 Broomfield 6th - 15th December 2007

In the season of goodwill, this was a game where Broomfield gifted Winchmore Hill with a point after being in the position of 3-0 at half time.

Against the top of the table team Broomfield took to the field with quiet confidence after putting on a good display in their previous game.

I don't think anyone could have predicted the overall performance for the 45 minutes of the first half. To a man there was total commitment throughout the team. Gerry and Andy defended from the front, closing down the Winchmore defence at every opportunity. Tobi and Iosu provided cover for the Broomfield full backs whilst also asking questions of the Winchmore defence. Miguel and Jimmy provided support to the midfield from full back as well as blocking any attacks down the opposition flanks, Alan and Roman performed as a duo in the middle of the park, Ian and Phil
snuffed out all the danger in the heart of the defence and finally Andy in goal used his vocal prowess to claim every loose ball.

The dream half really got under way after ten minutes when Tobi bamboozled the Winchmore defence with a trick and a shimmy to make his own space before squaring the ball to the unmarked Gerry to slot an easy goal (and finally get off the mark for the season).

More sustained pressure and a cross from Andy almost made it 2-0 only for Gerry's header to rebound off the bar.

The score didn't stay the same for long as Iosu rounded off some clever work down the left to pull the ball back for the unmarked Andy Hill to fire in an unstoppable left foot shot beyond the keeper.

The opposition only really had one real chance from a free kick on the edge of the box that was confidently tipped over by Andy French.

Another Broomfield attack led to the ball breaking for Gerry who took one touch before unleashing an unstoppable shot in to the top corner of the net.

Unbelievably, the half time whistle went with Broomfield up 3-0 and not really looking threatened.

Despite a half time warning that we couldn't afford complacency to creep in, the second half was only five minutes old when a hopeful punt into the Broomfield box broke for their midfielder to smash an unchallenged shot into the top right hand corner of the net. Fifteen minutes later another lob over the defence left the same midfielder with an easy one on one with Andy French to make the score 3-2. Predictably, and following a contentious free kick decision, Winchmore equalised with a well taken free kick from just outside the box.

But, credit to Broomfield, Roman Lagos defied his hangover by pushing the team forward looking for a winner and Broomfield were unlucky when Tobi lobbed the keeper only to see the defender get back to clear off the line. And after a goal mouth scramble another Tobi effort came back off the post.

So, from watching Broomfield play the best 45 minutes of football, it was somewhat disappointing to come away with only the one point. But, Broomfield can take heart from this performance and hopefully translate this into more points in the New Year - A merry Xmas and Happy New Year to one and all.
 

Old Finchleans 6’s 2 – Broomfield 6’s 1  1st December 2007

Another game, another defeat for the sixes.  But the official scoreline doesn’t tell the story of how Broom played some of their best football of the season and ran rings around a strong Finchleans side in the 2nd half.

The game began with Brooms getting the better start with several close misses and half chances going begging.  It was after one of these chances and against the run of play that Finchleans opened the scoring.  A long punt by the keeper got caught in the wind and cleared everyone leaving a race between the Finchleans striker and Brooms defenders.  Unfortunately the race was won by the attacker who calmly put the ball past a helpless Phil in goal.  This is what Finchleans needed and they settled into their game and began to take control with some good passing football.

Minutes later a ball out wide was miscontrolled by Andy Hill and was picked up by the Finchleans right winger who through a series of slick one twos cut his was through the Brooms defence and slide the ball past the onrushing Phil to take the score to 2-0.  Brooms refused to let their heads drop and finished the first half playing the better football but, alas, without a goal.

Some inspiring words at half time from John Burdon and Norman, Brooms began the 2nd half as they’d ended the first, playing some good passing football.  The attacking threat of Broomfield was causing the Finchleans defence no end of problems with them having to double up every time Iosu, Toby, Jimmy or Andy got the ball.  The Brooms defence was looking strong, snubbing out any attempts by Finchleans and feeding the midfield duo of Norman and Alan who were putting some superb balls forward.

About 15 minutes into the 2nd half Brooms attacking play finally bore fruit, with a superb ball from Alan finding the run of Andy Hill who took the ball in his stride using his pace to burst between two Fincleans defenders before putting the ball past the advancing keeper.  This sparked Brooms to raise their game further and with the introduction of some fresh legs of Andrew Dutton up front replacing the debutant Toby.  Toby played well and looks to be a valuable addition to the team. As his experience and confidence improve he’ll definitely be a force to be reckoned with.  Andrew almost levelled the game with his first touch after latching onto a diagonal ball to the back post, the ball flying only inches wide.

The rest of the game was very open with both teams playing almost end to end football, with Brooms looking by far the fitter, more motivated and likely to score team, alas it wasn’t to be.  At the final whistle a thoroughly exhausted Brooms team left the pitch again defeated but having put on an excellent display.  The sixes team spirit is running high at the moment and with the raw talent in the team, it’s only a matter of time before all the pieces fall into place and they hit a spell of league form.

 

Broomfield 6's 2 - 7 E.B.O.Gs 6's - 3rd November 2007

Another injury strewn performance, another heavy defeat. After a one week lay off it was back to the hurly burly of the league.

It was a strong looking Broomfield 6th team that took to the wide open spaces of Clowes, but it was also a young fit looking EBOGs that lined up against us.

The first half was a tight affair with both teams battling well in the mid-field. Norman Taylor proved to be valuable in the sweeper role, keeping the defence organised and providing motivation for the rest of the team. Andy French could consider himself fortunate not to have been pulled aside by the ref after a couple of late challenges that were there to remind the EBOGs winger of his presence.

There was a new look to the mid-field with Mike O'Donnell looking to exploit the gaps on the left and Roman Lagos providing some strong tackling in the middle. Jimmy O'Neil worked tirelessly down the right and Alan Torrington provided a steady rock to work from in the middle.

After a couple of half chances and a flurry of corners, the ball broke to the centre back Andy Hill who took one touch to steady himself before curling his shot away from the keeper into the left of the goal.

Unfortunately, this sparked an increase in the EBOGs work rate and after some good wing play down the left the ball was squared across the face of goal for an easy tap in to bring the score level.

Following the second half collapse in the previous game, there was a sense of deja vu as after ten minutes of the second half a defensive error let in the EBOGs striker to make it 2-1. And after a disputed free kick, EBOGs were able to swing in another cross for an easy header to make it 3-1.

This brought about the first substitution for Broomfield when the lethargic Mike O'Donnell (too many fizzy drinks the night before eh?) made way for Iosu Salinas on the left. Within minutes a free kick from Alan Torrington was drilled to the edge of the area where an eagerly waiting Andy French out muscled his marker and guided a strong header past the outstretched dive of the EBOGs keeper.

At 3-2 this brought about an increase in confidence from Broomfield and a stronger sense of purpose throughout the team. And to further strengthen the team and look for the all important equaliser, Andy French took his leave from the game and replaced himself with the final substitute Sam Bonniwick for his first game since a recent hamstring injury. But, lady luck had seen enough and had long departed as Sam's hamstring decided that three weeks is never enough time to fully heal. With a swing of the boot and sharp cry of pain it was all over for Sam again after being on the pitch for only ten minutes.

In effect this left Broomfield with ten men as Sam positioned himself as a nuisance up front with his severely restricted mobility (someone did mention that they hardly noticed the difference).

To make matters worse, and for the second game in succession another injury befell the hapless blues when the keeper Roger Hill jarred a shoulder making a save. Now down to nine fit men and the other centre back Phil Linkelaar in goal, it was the cue for EBOGs to show no mercy and bang in four further goals to seal the points.

With eleven fit men and the score at 3-2 Broomfield had a chance, as the
spirit and determination could not be faulted. Miguel Lagos was solid at left back, Gerry Kyei put a lot of effort in up front, Roger Hill, as ever, was reliable in goal. But, man of the match for Broomfield was Andy Hill with his determined defensive display capped with a superb goal.

 

Broomfield 6th 1-5 Carshalton 6th (Cup game) - 20th October 2007

Seven goals last week and six goals this week, you certainly get your money's worth when watching the 6's.

Another change of personnel in the 6th team back four with Roger Hill taking over the gloves from Andrew Dutton, Graham Rose and Miguel Lagos moving from being the opposition last week with the 5th team to playing centre half and left back respectively for the 6's this week.

Both teams started off confidently, pushing and probing both defences.
Alan Torrington anchored himself in the middle of the park and started to spray balls across the pitch. Andrew Hill picked up from last week with some dogged tackling whilst the back four kept their nerve and managed to clear any danger.

Jimmy O'Neil broke the deadlock by cleverly exploiting the lack of pace of the Carshalton left back, taking the ball the long way round before slipping the ball between the keeper and the near post.

There is an often trotted out football cliche that says that you are at your most vulnerable immediately after scoring. And for once we proved that cliches are cliches because they are often true. Straight from the kick off Carshalton took the ball unchallenged in to the Broomfield box and comfortably passed the ball past Roger in goal to make it 1-1.

Five minutes later another Carshalton break from mid-field left the Broomfield defence watching as a soft shot crept past Roger, hitting the post to come back to the on rushing striker to score possibly the easiest goal he will get this season.

This could have precipitated a heads down total collapse from Broomfield, but instead we actually continued to play some good football matching the opposition for endeavour and work rate.

The second half proved to be a different story with our continuing lack of fitness and confidence proving our undoing. Too many times balls cleared from defence were instantly coming back. This continued pressure from Carshalton led to some mistakes in defence and sooner rather than later we conceded a third from a direct free kick twenty yards from goal. Though to be fair, the goal was a Beckhamesque strike that was virtually un-saveable in the top corner of post and bar.

The fourth and fifth goals soon followed as big gaps opened up in the Broomfield mid-field. Disappointingly, we failed to create any clear cut chances in the second half, mainly due to our lack of confidence in playing football on the deck.

We have the players to get results this season, but this will only come if we improve our fitness to make sure that we can be competitive for 90 minutes. And we need to keep our opposition on the back foot as the best form of defence can be attack at this level.

Yet again, it was a good first half and a very poor second half. Ah well, back to the hum drum of the league.

 

Broomfield 5th 5 -2 Broomfield 6th - 13th October 2007

The first inter club game of the season between these two teams was very much a case of the older brother in the family versus his younger sibling.

The first half was was a hurried affair with neither team spending too much time with their foot on the ball. The industrious Andy Hill was the 6th team's best player of the half with his surging runs forward supplemented by his excellent tackling and snuffing out of any danger from the middle of the park.

The 6th team huffed and puffed and managed to carve out at least three gilt edge chances that were all wasted without really testing John Costas in the 5th team goal. At the other end, Andrew was rarely troubled by the 5th team forwards.

Towards the end of the first half another Andy Hill tackle was unfortunately diverted to the 5th team striker whose shot was well saved by Andrew on to the post, but Jimmy Demetriou from the 5th team mid-field was on hand to put the ball into the empty net. To make matters worse, Andy Hill was injured in the build up to the goal and had to be replaced by Chris McDonald.

The second half started in a repeat of the first with neither team showing any composure. From a long throw into the box Andy French mis-judged his header and the mistake was pounced on again by Jimmy Demetriou to head past the stranded Andrew in goal.

The two goal deficit was enough to disrupt the shape of the 6th team and shortly after, another mistake in defence led to a third goal. The one glint of hope was provided by the half time substitute Iosu whose endeavour was rewarded with a penalty after a spell of shirt tugging just inside the box. After last week's miss, Alan Torrington gave way to Iosu who confidently struck the ball past John Costas.

At 3-1 down the 6th team started to show belief but had by now used up all three subs. With thirty minutes to go another piece of bad luck hit the 6th team when the ever dependable Sam Bonniwick had to leave the pitch with a hamstring strain reducing the team to ten men. Remarkably, the 6th team started to play better with just the ten men and Jimmy O'Neil pulled a goal back with ten minutes to go. The decision was then made to go for the equaliser and push men forward. This was a brave decision that was eventually punished by two more late goals by the 5th team, leaving the final score 5-2 to the older brother.

At the risk of sounding like sour grapes it would be fair to say that the 6th team deserved more out of this game, especially after creating more chances in the first half - but, you don't score, you don't win. And as someone said in the changing room after the game - "never mind we'll do them at home in the return game".
 

Broomfield 6th 1 - 2 Winchmore Hill 9th  - 6th October 2007

After last week's marvellous comeback against the Vampires, spirits were high coming into the game against local rivals Winchmore Hill.  The game was played on the lush out field of Hazelwood Pitch two, which was in dire need of a good mow. Not only did the ball get lost in the long grass, it was difficult to see past your ankles. But, it wasn't just the grass that contributed to a lack lustre Broomfield display, many of the players seemed to be a yard or to short of the pace.  The first half was dominated by both defences with neither team cutting out many clear cut chances. Jimmy O'Neil was unlucky to be called offside by the eagle eyed ref Laurie Payne. But all in all Gerry and Mike up front were living off the scraps of mis placed passes and poor defensive clearances from the opposition. With the game at 0-0 at half time.

The second half started to drift the same way as the first for the ten minutes or so until the normally alert Aldo Curti was caught in possession facing his own goal. The gift was snatched upon by the Hill striker who steered the ball past Andrew in goal.  Shortly after Aldo was replaced at right back by Iosu making his debut for the team.  Following another period of hesitation in defence the Hill grabbed another goal to go 2-0 up with 20 minutes to play. This prompted the Mourinho like manager Andy French to change the formation to 3-4-3 and instantly revitalised Broomfield's forward play.

With five minutes to go, Mike O'Donnell finally stretched his legs and went on a mazy run that finished with a well taken goal. The final few minutes were spent going forward but it was too little too late.  The lesson to be learnt had to be that we can be a good footballing team if we keep the ball on the deck - and we must remember that it's a team game with each player responsible for holding his position and to keep looking and moving for the ball - here endeth the sermon from the Reverend French.