Reserves great win at home against AFC Sudbury

RIDGEONS RESERVES-SOUTH - TUESDAY JANUARY 25th
BRANTHAM RESERVES 2 AFC SUDBURY RESERVES 0
Brantham Reserves (sponsored by Kensington) welcomed AFC Sudbury on Tuesday night ( writes Nathan Burrell) looking to increase our lead at the top of the table and expected a keenly fought contest, and it certainly was that. Sudbury's first team game had been called off on the same night and they brought in a few fringe players and we welcomed Sean Gunn, Kieran Lawler and Chris French into the squad. In a very tight game both teams were finding it hard to create any clear cut chances with play being mainly in midfield. We started to gain the upper hand and our first real chance was from a free kick about 20 yards out which Lee Willcox drove into the Sudbury wall. Sudbury were looking dangerous on the counter attack and our back four had to keep a close eye on their lively front two whose movement and pace was top class.Our best chance of the half fell to Ben Sparrow who chased a long ball and got to it first. With Sudbury's goalkeeper racing out of his goal towards the ball Ben tried a 30 yard lob only to see the ball drop just past the post and cleared by a Sudbury defender. From the resultant corner Chris French whipped the ball in and the ball bounced about in the six yard box without us getting a touch on it.
Half time Merch and myself were happy with the work rate and commitment of the team but felt we just needed to calm down when in possession and play a little more football and we knew the chances would come. We started to get the ball on the ground and started to create chances.The first came from a short corner and Chris French beat his marker and cracked in a great shot which produced a good save from the Sudbury keeper. Chris French then got in a one-on-one, the keeper done well but then dropped the ball at Frenchy's feet only to grab the ball at the second attempt before Frenchy knew what was going on! Sudbury were still well in the game and from a free kick 25 yards out Ross Welton pulled off a great save, saving low to his left. Almost immediately Ross pulled off another great save with the Sudbury forward through in a one-on-one and Ross blocked the ball with his legs to keep the game all square. We then took the lead in the 70th minute and what a goal it was. The ball was crossed into the Sudbury box and was cleared only for the ball to drop to Chris French just out side the area and Chris smacked the ball home on the half volley with a superb shot into the top corner of the goal. 1-0. Sudbury then put us under pressure but all credit to the boys who defended fantastically well, not giving Sudbury a sniff of a chance. We were playing on the counter-attack and from a quick break Sean Gunn found himself getting to the goal line before beating the Sudbury full back and with some superb cool finishing hit the ball, from an awkward angle, into the corner of the goal to make it 2-0 and to seal the win.
So a huge three points against a quality Sudbury team, who in all honesty won't lose many games this season.This sets us up nicely for the double header against Braintree,home and then away. It would be very hard to pick out players but I thought that the back four of Spencer, Mann, Long and Drouet were superb and young Lee Willcox certainly had his best game for us this season.
Brantham - 1.Ross Welton. 2.Ben Spencer. 3.Alex Drouet. 4.James Long. 5.Kev Mann. 6.Kieran Lawler. 7.Ben Green. 8.Lee Willcox. 9. Ben Sparrow. 10.Sean Gunn (1 goal). 11. Chris French (1 goal). subs- James Glen, Adam Thompson and Alex Street.
Thanks to Nathan Burrell for a top class report and well done to the lads for such a great performance. I was able to watch a lot of the game and Merch and Nathan have the right mixture, younger players and the more experienced lads, and they all did the team and the club proud in this game.-----barry felgate----