Brockenhurst 1 Cowes Sports 2

4 March 2025

Ngl: there were some pretty gloomy faces leaving Portland on Saturday evening.  Wondering what might have happened if Brock had scored the opening goal, turning some good possession into presentable chances, rather than falling behind and watching confidence drain away.  Next opportunity to put it right: home to Cowes Sports in a game delayed by early morning fog on the Solent which disrupted all RedJet traffic and resulted in a kick-off at 2015.   A first start for Andriy Demira for the Badgers, following his debut as sub at Portland.  There was some early light fog – lemurs in the mist, more than gorillas – but conditions didn’t deteriorate and there was no risk to the game.

Brock started well, playing positively and looking to play the ball in behind the Cowes back line, while the visitors were pinging the ball out nicely to the flanks and stretching the play.  But it was the Badgers with the early breakthrough: one long pass forward to Bunce on the left, who moved into the box and shot calmly into the far corner on 6 minutes.  He might have added a second ten minutes later with a powerful shot from 25 yards, helped over the bar by Hatt; and on 21 minutes, a quick break following a Cowes corner and Catley was forced into a last-ditch challenge on Atiako-Hall to stop him being clean through on goal, 30 yards out.  How that second goal would have changed the game, we’ll never know: 28 minutes, a Cowes corner, Wellman picked up the ball but was firmly challenged by Cook, the ball brook loose to McFarlane whose shot through the crowd was well saved by Valero, but the rebound was bundled home by Tout-Walters (says Cowes Twitter, I couldn’t have told you from my angle).  It was only a goal; but suddenly Brock seemed to slow things down and play with greater caution, spaces in front of them got closed down… more importantly, perhaps, Wellman had to go off after that challenge, removing the defensive lynchpin.   Indeed, the visitors might have considered themselves unlucky not to be ahead before half-time, because McFarlane had a free kick well saved by Valero, and then the keeper had to be alert to turn away another free header at the back post.  and right on the whistle, Chase hit a fine shot which clipped the top of the bar as it went over.  HT 1-1

The visitors looked more composed throughout the second half, and largely took control of the game, while the Badgers started to look frustrated.  Long story short: Brock didn’t have a shot on target in the second half, although Demira had a free header from a corner on 62 which he planted wide when he should have scored, and Atiako-Hall flicked a late header over the bar from a free-kick.  But between those two moments, Cowes scored one and should probably have had more; Valero saved at the feet of Tout-Walters, but on 68 minutes a deep cross from Phillips on the right, headed in unchallenged at the back post by Tout-Walters.  And if that sounds familiar, it was a carbon copy of Portland’s first goal on Saturday.  Others might have followed – shots sliced inside the box, one deflected wide, one header away from his own line by Atiako-Hall, and to be honest nothing much was going the other way.  12 minutes to go: Bunce sin-binned for something he said to the referee.  Mitigations: frustration at the performance, at the fact Brock had barely got a decision for 20 minutes, and that the ref hadn’t seen a blatant shirt pull.  Against which: dissing the ref is never going to help.  Phillips should have extended the advantage on 83 minutes but smashed the ball over from the edge of the box, but apart from that one later header, Cowes didn’t really have too many alarms as they saw it out for the points.  FT 1-2

OK, better than Saturday.  Still quite a tough watch for Badgers fans.  Harry was man of the match because he scored the goal, and he was the only one who looked like he could make something happen – despite the sinbinning.  But in the end, it was Cowes who had the gumption to go and win the game.  Let’s hope that can be Brock on Saturday.