SSC QF Brockenhurst 5 Ringwood Town 2

16 December 2025

Well what’s this?  Two games in four days?  Like London buses, Brock games – and finally, back at the Meadens for the first time since the win in the previous round of this competition against New Milton Town, all of three weeks ago.  Quarter-final of the Southampton Senior Cup, a couple of wins away from a final at St Mary’s – not a bad incentive, with 103 brave souls coming out on a chilly night to watch (although it seemed rather emptier than that up in the stands, it has to be said).

Ultimately, the Badgers booked their semi-final place with something to spare, despite a bit of a scare early in the second half.  They had a little bit more quality where it counted, took more of their chances, and were able to ease past their Division One opponents despite playing with ten for 45 minutes.  A lightning start: 34 seconds on the clock when Brock took the lead, Speechley-Price playing in Brooks whose shot from a tight angle came back off the post, but Connor Dunesby-Bent was on hand to tuck home the rebound.  Hosts firmly in the ascendant at this point, a terrific run from Torniainen on 7 minutes reaching the edge of the box before testing keeper Callum White who just managed to push the ball behind for a corner.  But on 11, Brock played a corner back to the edge of the box – it probably wasn’t intended for Torniainen but it reached him and this time his shot sneaked in for 2-0.  5 minutes later, another decent Brock move, McCarthy-Gardiner steadying himself for a cross-shot which was deflected just wide.  And then, out of nowhere, a gift of a goal for the visitors.  The ball was with Valero, passed to MacFarlane a few yards away and under no pressure, but his attempt to tap it back to the keeper was underhit and Lee Vint was onto it – initial shot well saved by Valero but the ball ran loose towards the goal and Vint was able to knock it home from a yard.  No doubt the heavy pitch played its part, possibly also the relative comfort of the game to that point – either way, back to 2-1 and game on.  Ringwood did press a little more after that but the Badgers back line did well, heading every cross away and holding firm.  While the early dominance had gone, Brock were still creating chances at the other end: Luke Gray flashed a header wide from a corner… Brooks, found by a sublime MacFarlane pass, saw his shot blocked, but on 44 minutes Colmer cross, Speechley-Price at the back post, 3-1.  But then a few seconds into injury time, Speechley-Price went in for a challenge, appeared to slip at the last minute, took his man out – and was given a straight red.  It felt quite harsh, but it’s there in the record books… HT 3-1

One thing I haven’t commented on is the referee.  Mr Morris regularly stopped play in the first half to deliver long lectures to players, and it was rarely evident what had caused the intervention; some refs like to be the centre of attention I guess.  He found six minutes of first-half injury time, something of a mystery; and also produced a comedy moment in the second half when he showed McCarthy-Gardiner a straight red card before realising he’d held up the wrong colour and reverted to yellow (one foul too many, fair enough), but not before a few in the stands had thought with horror that Brock were being reduced to nine.  Anyway, on with the game –

Understandably, Ringwood came out fired up for the second half, playing against ten.  A couple of personnel changes, including moving Brooks to centre half (possibly the first time he’s ever played there!), seemed to upset Brock’s defensive rhythm and they struggled to work with the revised shape in the early period.  Being down to ten didn’t help, no doubt, but the Badgers were sitting too deep and encouraging the opposition onto them – and duly paid the price on 54 minutes when Dan May, Ringwood’s most influential player on the night, reacted quickest to a loose ball and fired home from the edge of the box.  Shortly after, Rabin shot over the bar from a decent position; the Badgers were rocking, and needed someone to grab the game and take charge.  Step forward Toby Colmer, who became increasingly influential from this point on, running the midfield almost single-handedly with running being the operative word, incredible energy.  The hosts might have extended their lead on 64 but Lister made a great block to prevent McCarthy-Gardiner getting a shot away; but two minutes later they made amends with a very neat move, McCarthy-Gardiner’s cross deflected off a defender to Mason, who set up Colmer for 4-2.  Five minutes on, a corner headed out only to the edge of the box, Gray with the shot, 5-2.  Any doubts about the outcome were now dispelled, and Brock almost scored the goal of the night – superb run from Colmer down the left, outstanding defence-splitting pass through to Mason, but White managed to spread himself and save.  Ringwood didn’t give up and they might still have got one back, first after Rossi slipped in the box and presented the ball to Kerse, but Valero made a fine save – and then he saved again, firstly from Kerse and then from Whitelaw.  Kerse also managed to find the gardens – up and over the trees behind the goal – from a pretty decent position, but it wasn’t Ringwood’s night.  FT 5-2

The scoreline makes this sound comfortable enough, and I suppose it was… mostly.  At 2-0, Brock were cruising; lost their way a bit; let Ringwood back into the game; and then went on to show that 10 v 11 often isn’t as one-sided as you’d think.  In the absence of the cup-tied Bailey, Colmer had to do Toby-duties on his own – and he was superb, especially in the second half, covering every blade of grass, regularly knocking the ball past his opponent and backing himself to reach it first (which he did) – obvious man of the match for the sponsors.  Once he’d scored the fourth goal, the game was pretty much won.  Ringwood worked hard, pressed well, but in the end Brock had too much.  So there’s a semi-final to look forward to (some clubs haven’t played their third round ties yet!) and now it’s back to league action at Grigg Lane on Saturday against Bemerton – up the Badgers!