Matchday 37 Brockenhurst 1 Sherborne Town 1

14 April 2026

And so for a final time this season, welcome to the Meadens Skoda Arena.  A season of promise which ultimately turned into a season of building – absolutely nothing wrong with that by the way – but there’ll be time for wider reflections on the season once it’s done.  For now, a focus on a match-up against the Zebras, whose season has been quite similar, also ending in the group of teams who were never concerned about the relegation zone but didn’t quite scrape into the playoffs.  Badgers and Zebras, two black and white themes but tonight blue v green.   No more preamble, on with the show.

Or not, as the case may be.  A clash between two attractive teams with nothing left to play for can be a dynamic, open attack-fest; or, as this evening, it can all be a bit after the Lord Mayor’s show.  The Zebras looked to be below full strength, based on my limited knowledge of their team, and Brock seemed to be in an experimental shape; but whatever the reason, neither side really grabbed hold of this game and played with fluency or conviction.  Shots on target: very few.  One for the visitors on 8 minutes, technically, when Herrin’s cross hit Joe Crisp and bounced through to Valero.  Roles reversed three minutes later, Crisp finding Herrin near the penalty spot after some casual defending, but the shot pulled wide.  Brooks whistled a shot over the bar from 30 yards for the Badgers on 16… Gerraghty got to the byline for Sherborne but Demira blocked Herrin’s attempt at source… the closest either side came in the first period was on 28 minutes when Gerraghty was in far too much space at the edge of the box and hit the outside of the post, with the rebound safely gathered by Valero.  And then right on half-time, a small spark for Brock, a deep cross from Walker which McCarthy-Gardiner, beyond the back post, could only just reach to volley wide.  HT 0-0

It would be great to say that the game burst into life in the second half but…  The Badgers did take the lead on 54 minutes, Andry Demira shooting from 22 yards and the ball taking a wicked deflection – think Sunderland against Spurs at the weekend – and bouncing beyond the stranded keeper Ryan Knibbs.  It took all of five minutes for Sherborne to level, and deservedly so: a free kick played into the box, only cleared to the corner of the six-yard box where captain Josh Williams volleyed into the far corner.  Good finish from a player who had a very solid evening.  The Zebras were largely playing long balls forward and pressuring the defence; Brock had plenty of possession but too much was sideways and backwards (another Spurs reference!).  Slight change of momentum with the subs – Brock brought on two youngsters, Will Giles and Elliot Wells, and both brought some energy and a willingness to run at the opposition which might have brought better reward.  There was one mad scramble close to the Badgers’ goal, ultimately cleared; sub Farthing had the ball in the net with a couple of minutes left for the visitors but was clearly offside; and right at the death, MacFarlane, up from the back, almost found an unlikely winner for Brock but his effort was very well saved low down at his near post by Knibbs.  FT 1-1

So it ended, at the Meadens at least, with a whimper.  It wasn’t the best game – lots of effort but: well, maybe I should give a bit more credit to the defences, who largely held comfortable sway.  You’d ideally hope for more shots on target, but sometimes that doesn’t happen.  There were two or three viable man of the match candidates but we went for Jamie, who had a very tidy game.  One left, on the island on Saturday.  Let’s see if we can finish with a bang…!