FAC EPR Brockenhurst 0 Bemerton Heath Harlequins 1

6 August 2024

Take two… there’s a well-known football maxim which says that, as a lower-league club, your best chance of pulling off an upset is always in the first game.  Replays, even at home, tend to favour the team who are higher in the league standings.  OK, challenge accepted, here we go.

This was a very different game to Saturday: this was a tussle, an arm-wrestle of a match, won by Bemerton with the last kick of the game in 90+5 when a free kick just outside the box – rightly given for a desperate pullback by Burgess – seemed to go through the wall, maybe taking a slight deflection on the way, and past Butler.  It wasn’t the most powerful shot from Marcus Smith, but it was enough.  Did they deserve it?  Well, not really, no.  Harlequins were better than Saturday – more intensity, more organised – but despite a lot of possession they had barely fashioned a proper chance all game, and Brock had been excellent off the ball and on another day…

Because Brock had their chances.  The best of them came late on, with only 7 to go, when a cute pass from Simpson set Jake Adams clear in on goal, but his shot only found the trees.  It wasn’t far over the bar, but… Adams had a strong evening, often in good positions and making intelligent runs; his shooting boots had, unfortunately, been left at home.  Even later, in the final minute of normal time, sub Burgess broke into space on the right and his cross-shot was gathered by Creese.  Those are the small margins which make the difference.

Harlequins looked like a more confident side than at the weekend, pressing high and not allowing the Brock defenders time on the ball, winning turnovers high up the pitch on a regular basis, but the Badgers were resolute and clear openings were at a premium.  Adams and Moreno were combining well for the home side, their first incisive move winning a corner which Wellman headed goalwards but a second flick inside the box took it wide.  McCarthy-Gardiner, pace to burn, beat his defender and forced a decent save.  Best move of the half, McCarthy-Gardiner to Moreno, back inside to Adams who missed his kick and rolled the ball back to the keeper when in a great position.  For Bemerton, Waters was again the main danger man on the right – an intelligent pullback to the edge of the box brilliantly thwarted by Gray, and another cross to the back post – Young didn’t really sort his feet out and his goalbound effort seemed to hit Butler, rather than being saved, and was booted away.  HT 0-0

The pattern didn’t change in the second half, with Harlequins largely controlling possession but Brock remaining disciplined and trying to spring the offside trap with quick passes out to the flanks.  The Badgers might have been in on 62, Burgess clear in space on the right, but the referee stopped play because Waters was down injured: maybe.  Gray curled a shot high and wide from the edge of the box – but these were comparatively rare moments as the Bemerton defence headed most things away pretty comfortably and kept Brock at arm’s length.  Mundy could have done better from the edge of the box after a flying break; Moore, on at half-time, made a couple of excellent blocks; Butler saved from Waters; both teams one mistake away from disaster as we moved into “one goal wins it” territory, and extra time loomed.  But that goal wasn’t really coming, from either side, until that last, late sucker punch.  FT 0-1

A night of positives but disappointment for Brock.  Solid defensively, excellent out of possession, some moments of really good football, but ultimately lacking the cutting edge which would have won them the tie.  The sponsors gave man of the match to Tiago, who was dangerous all evening, but in the end nobody did quite enough to break the deadlock for the Badgers.  Superb attendance of 249 – some of them joyously vocal in the latter stages, which was entertaining.  For me this was a less entertaining game than the first, but it could really have gone either way.  We were never going to win the FA Cup, of course, but it would have been nice to progress.  Instead, we can wipe those projected fixtures from our calendar and look forward to Millbrook on Saturday.