Matchday 16 Brockenhurst 0 Laverstock & Ford 0

4 November 2025

Matchday 16, already!  And no time for Brock to rest on their laurels after the outstanding win against Stoneham on Saturday – straight back into action in the rearranged game against Laverstock & Ford.  In all the excitement at the weekend I also forgot to mention the very welcome return of Tyler Wellman, supporters’ player of the season in 24/25 before breaking a bone in his foot and finally coming off the bench as we entered injury time to get his first minutes for the team in about 8 months.  A heartening sight indeed.

And so to Lavvy, who came into this having played the fewest league games of anyone in the top flight, nine points behind the Badgers but with 5 games in hand.  Such are the vagaries at this point of the season… It had rained, the pitch was heavy but playable, which is credit to Ian Allen and his band of helpers.

This was, ultimately, a game of “nearly but not quite” for both sides: one of the better goalless draws, for sure, and certainly not a boring stalemate.  The Badgers probably had more of the ball, but the visitors will feel that they created the better of the chances – their wingers staying wide and making the pitch as big as possible, regularly found by long raking passes… it was a game of contrasting styles with neither side quite able to impose their will on the other. 

The Bulldogs created the first clear chance after 3 minutes, a neat move down the right, pulled back to Bourner on the edge of the box – the shot skied so high it might have brushed the clouds before clattering against a distant roof!  They created a few chances – Roach with a shot wide and a shot high (not as high as the first!), Arnold receiving the ball in splendid isolation on the left wing and running to the edge of the box but puling the shot well wide.  For Brock, Speechley-Price was crowded out in the box  (three players convening, it looked ugly but the ref wasn’t interested and let’s be fair to Mr Scott, he did generally try to let the game flow).  Burgess fired over the bar from a presentable opportunity, made by Beale, but the clearer openings were coming at the other end, Moseley just failing to turn home at the back post after another flying move down the left, Roach with a powerful cross-shot superbly tipped away by Valero – although the Badgers might have taken the lead just before the interval, a perfect cross from the byline but Speechley-Price misjudged the header.  HT 0-0

Brock had done plenty of good things in the first half but ultimately hadn’t quite been able to sort their feet (or heads) out at the vital moment – final ball not quite accurate enough, although credit too to the Laverstock defence, who were extremely well organised off the ball and restricted Brock to few sights of goal.  Chances were fewer and farther between for both teams in the second period; maybe the heavy pitch was taking its toll.  There was no lack of effort, but the elusive breakthrough wouldn’t come.  62 minutes, probably the closest Brock came all evening, a great run from Holmes, a turn and shot from the edge of the box – the ball fizzed past the post, keeper nowhere. Laverstock were still largely playing on the break but they were looking dangerous too – a brilliant block from Rossi but the ball rebounded to Roach, seemingly in on goal, Rossi back to challenge.  Sub Cegielka ran unchallenged to the edge of the box but shot well wide; 12 minutes to go, a better chance for Cegielka, expertly saved by Valero… and then the closest the visitors came, 80 minutes, Moseley with a great run and shot across goal, Cegielka arriving but unable to apply the final touch.  A flurry of excitement in injury time, a couple of Badger half-chances followed by a quick break from the visitors – Sykes maybe took too long over his shot and it was blocked – back up the other end, Speechley-Price from 25 yards, over the bar, and the game was done. FT 0-0

Did you know that Brock hadn’t had a goalless draw in the league since August 2023 against Shaftesbury?  There have been a couple in cups since then, and both of those games were stinkers; this wasn’t.  Entertaining, at times terrifying for those of us in the stands and, if I’m really honest, I thought a draw was about right.  We didn’t do enough to win the game, for all that there were plenty of near-things.  The Bulldogs may well be wondering how they didn’t put away any of the chances they created on the break, too… Not a criticism, not faulting the effort and in the second half I thought the players began to look pretty tired.  Understandable, after working so hard on Saturday and then again tonight on a heavy pitch.  So it wasn’t to be five in a row (and we didn’t even achieve that in 2021/22 so let’s not be too downhearted), but it was a clean sheet, another game unbeaten against decent opponents, on to Christchurch on Saturday.