Matchday 32 Hamworthy Recreation 1 Brockenhurst 1

28 March 2026

I started this weekend still buzzing a bit from Thursday night’s U-18 semi-final, with the young Badgers beating Cobham Sports 3-1 with an outstanding performance, classy football and some great goals.  Those who weren’t there definitely missed out, and those who haven’t read my report of the game – well, you should. 

On to Saturday.  Now we’re definitely into “the run-in” – the part of the season where things are decided.  For a few teams in the Wessex, this is about fulfilling their remaining fixtures but a pretty dead-rubber feel to it; but for others, there’s still a lot to play for.  Brockenhurst, sitting in 5^th, definitely fit into that latter group, with the playoffs still a realistic ambition with seven games to go.  But one glance at the league table, and who’s that now filling sixth place?  Yup, today’s opponents Ham Rec, who have quietly been on a very good run lately, taking 16 points from 18 and putting themselves into a pretty strong position.  It’s still too tight to call any of the games “eliminators” at this stage, but games like this, against playoff rivals, do have that extra level of significance. 

… all of which made the outcome even more frustrating for the Badgers, second-best in the first period but much improved after the break, grabbing the lead but not managing to add to it and then conceding an equaliser deep into stoppage time.   The hosts celebrated their goal like it was a last-minute winner in a cup tie, rather than just salvaging a home point in the league; but let’s not be churlish because they were down to 10, the game had looked to be slipping away from them, and no doubt Brock would have done the same! 

The game itself – as a spectacle it wasn’t helped by a strong (and cold!) wind, largely favouring the hosts in the first half, and also by a pitch which was dry enough for the ball to bounce pretty high, after weeks of playing on mud.  An early scare for Rec when Toby Colmer put pressure on keeper Shane Long, and his clearance rebounded off the midfielder but went harmlessly behind, but the hosts made most of the early running with Max Wilcock their most dangerous player – he was keeping the Brock defence honest and put in a couple of fine crosses (and also had the ball in the net after a shot came back off the post, but it was ruled out for offside).  Goal machine Chris Long had a quiet afternoon – credit to MacFarlane and Wellman for that – one early block from MacFarlane stands out.  The early stages also featured what appeared to be a Poznan from a group of youngsters on the far side, but as it turned out they weren’t there for the football at all but were watching something on the river behind the pitch.  Wilcock then poked a shot against the bar… 31 minutes, another Wilcock cross, headed over by Long… Brock were struggling to gain any controlled possession, not helped by the wind but too careless with the ball and also disrupted by two first-half substitutions for injury, with McCarthy-Gardiner and Burgess replacing Palmier and Brooks.  The Badgers weren’t bad without the ball and were mostly restricting Rec to longer-range efforts; and fortunately for them, Rec had left their shooting boots behind.  Roberts did get a shot on target in injury time, but it was straight at Jordi Valero.  HT 0-0

Brock were much better in the second half; manager Devlin had obviously said his piece at half-time and it worked.  Eddie Hodge had one early shot for Rec, well saved by Valero, but now Brock had the wind at their backs and were pressing higher.  Even so, they took the lead in unexpected fashion; Burgess, who had an impressive game after coming on, put in a dangerous cross and an attempted clearance cannoned off Lewis McMurdo for an own goal.  57 minutes, Badgers in front – and they started to look much the likelier side, with Burgess, Beale and sub Walker all very lively.  Long headed wide under pressure for Rec but Brock should have put the game to bed during the next period.  McCarthy-Gardiner did well to beat his defender and take the ball round the keeper but from a tight angle he chose to cross instead of shooting… and then on 72 minutes, Harvey Doe was shown a straight red for a foul on Dylan Walker.  Walker was in the wars, he’d been fouled several times in quick succession, and this time he nicked the ball past his man and looked to be running clear before being taken out.  He was still a long way from goal, and there were possible covering defenders within the same county, but the decision wasn’t overly controversial.  Definitely now advantage Brock, then.  9 to go, Toby Colmer headed a Burgess cross just wide… 5 to go, Freddie Beale teed up Walker who controlled on the edge of the box and seemed sure to score but Murphy made an excellent save to keep Rec in the game.  Into overtime, Freddie Beale doing Freddie Beale things, brilliant control and run but McCarthy-Gardiner’s shot went just wide.  And then the sucker-punch: 90+5, a final free kick near the halfway line for Rec, punted into the box, nodded on by Long and Sean Wright arriving beyond the back post to hammer a shot into the far corner and rescue a point.  FT 1-1

I guess if you’d offered me a point this morning, I’d have taken it.  If you’d offered me a point at half-time, I’d have taken it.  But conceding such a late equaliser, after having so many chances to put it to bed – that’s frustrating.  Tyler was immense at the back – as always – as was Liam.  Jamie and Dylan were both excellent after they came on and provided some real energy and drive.  But honesty also demands me to say: credit to Rec for not giving up, and Brock could easily have been behind at the break, so maybe it’s not the worst result, even though those two points could yet turn out to be oh so important.  A quick word also on the crowd – only 51 recorded, which is above their average for the season but there seemed to be more – and a large proportion of them were Badgers fans, a great away turnout. 

Quick glance at elsewhere – superb 3-0 win for Stoneham on the road in their Vase semi, congratulations to them.  And Hythe & Dibden conceded seven again, three times in four games!   And Portland also lost again, this time at Andover New Street.  Let’s hope this bodes well for Tuesday…