Matchday 14 Bemerton Heath Harlequins 0 Brockenhurst 2

25 October 2025

Is it just me, or… there’s been an absolute epidemic of abandoned games for serious player injury this season, hasn’t there?  In the last seven or eight years, since we’ve been proper regulars, there have been maybe one or two games a year which are called off, usually because of floodlight “failure” (remember that, Portchester?) – but this year there seems to be one a week, all for serious player injury.  What’s happening?  Of course, we all agree that the safety of players is the priority, and it’s absolutely right to stop the game when necessary, but are there so many more serious injuries this year than every other?  Sincerely wish all those injured speedy and successful recoveries and, even more, hope not to see any more such reports for a while. 

Anyway, back to the league and a trip to the A-Class Arena, formerly known as Moon Park, home of Bemerton Heath Harlequins – not been here for a couple of years following Bemmy’s promotion but back again following their voluntary relegation after last season.  I’ve always found it quite a pleasant ground and I’ve watched a few decent games here, including when an outstanding Harlequins team beat Portchester on the final day of the season to gain automatic promotion behind Horndean.  Times have changed…

The scorebook makes this sound like a pretty routine away win, and in some senses it probably was, but the Badgers contrived to make harder work of it than they should.  They were largely dominant in the opening period, controlling possession and territory – 7 minutes, Dunesby-Bent hammering his shot against the bar from an angle, 12 minutes yet another of those Freddie Beale twinkletoes moments but a tame shot… 18 minutes, a superb run from Jack Torniainen, playing again at left-back, his piledriver of a shot spilled and running loose to Macfarlane who placed his effort wide.  Harlequins were mostly relying on the long ball forward to Kapend, who worked exceptionally hard all afternoon for limited reward, but Brock seemed sure to break through soon… Dunesby-Bent wining a free kick which Beale placed just wide and then, at last, 27 minutes, Beale down the right and a deep cross headed powerfully back across goal and in by Dunesby-Bent.  It was the least the Badgers deserved at that point; Luke Holmes was running the game, ably supported by Toby Bailey, and the hosts hadn’t gained a foothold.  Until: 32 minutes, a deep free kick came through to Reynolds 8 yards out but it was too low to head and too high to kick, and past him in an instant. Five minutes later, a great run down the left by the energetic Wells, outpacing Macfarlane and fizzing a cross through the six-yard box, missed by everyone… HT 0-1

It always seems to surprise Brock that teams, especially teams who are behind, come out of the blocks fast at the start of the second half.  and so it was here, Bemerton had that extra energy and that extra bite – not literally, perhaps, but certainly a level of physicality, some of it close to the edge and some of it beyond.  The hosts had quite a few shots at the start of the half, but nothing which had Valero scurrying… it also seemed that the sporadic rain had left the pitch quite slippery, as players from both teams were struggling to keep their footing.  Brock might still have extended their lead – a curling cross from Speechley-Price which evaded everyone, and then another mazy Beale run and shot which deflected off a defender (Andrews?) and cannoned back off the post!  But this time, Bemerton were also creating their own chances – Burgess with a half-volley which whistled just past the post from the edge of the box, same player with a shot over the bar after an excellent block from Steel.  But it seemed that the Harlequins had burned themselves out because gradually the Badgers regained control.  One excellent move ended with a great Beale cross, turned over the bar from 8 yards by Dunesby-Bent although his blushes might have been spared by a very strange offside flag (as he was behind the ball).  Still, too many shots from good positions were wide and, as someone close to me put it, “powder-puff” – so with 5 to go man of the match Holmes took matters into his own hands, drove forward, played a 1-2 and let fly – the ball hit Speechley-Price and that beat the keeper all ends up to seal the points.  (Did you mean it, Mitch? Haha!)  Two minutes later, another neat move, Speechley-Price with a brilliant overhead kick heading for the net, superbly tipped onto the bar and over by Dillon.  And also time for Jamie-Jay Burgess to take aim from 20 yards, heading to the top corner but caught by Dillon, and for Colmer to shoot just wide.  FT 0-2

Another away game dealt with, three league wins on the bounce (surprisingly we did that in December so I’m not quite as excited about that record as I might be!), another clean sheet – all sounds like a very satisfactory afternoon and to be fair Brock never really looked as if they weren’t going to win the game.  They had to cope with a bit of an onslaught, and they did so pretty well.  I am, as I have said before, a hard taskmaster: the second goal might have come much earlier, and that would have made for more comfortable viewing!  Luke Holmes was magnificent this afternoon, but overall it was a good team performance which brought it home.  And on a personal level, lovely to see some old friends (and I don’t just mean Noel coming on late in the game; they know who they are).  In summary, Brock did enough.  next week, if we’re going to make it four in a row, we’ll probably need a bit more because Stoneham are the leaders, the title favourites, and a very tough team.  Having said all which, Brock have shown that they’re capable of outstanding performances, and I’m looking forward to it.  Bring on the Purps!