Broadstone Braves Vs Dorchester Dynamoes

Braves 7 - Dynamoes 0

Dorchester may be bottom of our league and yet to win a game but that didn't stop them from applying the pressure on the Braves for two halves! Their determination was a credit to all of them and their manager, I am sure they will grow from strength to strength.

The Braves took nothing for granted and demonstrated that despite having only 10 men on the pitch (9 at one stage) they used space to good effect and communicated well.

Chris "I'll see if I can snatch as many goals from Joe Jorden as I can" Birrell performed well up front especially as he's not played for some 9 weeks and had just recovered from illness - a well deserved man of the match award Chris!

All in all a fantastic effort by all the lads who showed considerable ball control and balance on what was a hard, slippery pitch...

Next Sunday the Braves play top of the league team New Milton... you know...the ones we were hammering by half time when we played them on their home ground but who came back in the second half really strong and we ended up drawing 5 all against.

We really need a full team next Sunday (Aston can't play as he has another important commitment)....so plenty of early nights, no XBox, Playstation and plenty of carbohydrates between now and next Sunday..........yeah right! Seriously, we can beat New Milton if we continue to show the same team work as we have done thus far in the season....bring it on!

Special mention for Steve Donachy this week who ran the line despite not feeling up to it...thanks mate Paul, the boys and I appreciated it...many thanks for your continued support.

Broadstone U13 Braves Vs Weymouth Cougar Sports

Braves 5 - Weymouth CS 2

Our first game since December 13th thanks to our wonderful weather!

Not having played a match for some 8 weeks and just started training again...we were a little 'rusty' and to say our eye wasn't on the ball in the first half is probably an understatement. We missed several opportunites at goal with Luke Woodhouse and Joe Jordan looking skyward on a number of occasions...half time saw the Braves 2 - 0 down.

Needless to say....we had a little chat at half time in between slurping drinks and sucking oranges.

Reminding the midfielders that they needed to be pushing the ball forward up and over Weymouths defenders so as to allow our strikers to run onto it maximising their pace and catching the oppositions defence off guard was a tactic we hoped would work...within minutes of the second half kicking off we seemed to gather momentum.

Matt Lonnen came on as Substitute and very quickly put in a nifty chip forward and down the centre, allowing Luke Woodhouse to push the ball forward past Weymouth's defence (at this time Paul Klein and I were on our knees, hands clasped together and it was our turn to look skyward...praying for a goal)...I recon Luke put some contact lenses in or somethin' 'cause he was bang on target....Goal!!!!....The boys heads visibly lifted...they were getting back into the game.

From then on we went from strength to strength, our defensive lineout which was well managed by Tristan Jalie remained tight and kept Weymouth struggling to score. The Braves strikers, supported by both wingers kept up relentless attacking pressure. Their efforts paid off with Luke scoring another four goals and Josh Powley scoring from what seemed like an impossible angle...it was really good to see the boys celebrate every goal..football at its best...even if Luke did take the mickey out of their linesman who the Braves felt had been a little over zealous with the off-side rule during the match (I, of course, couldn't possibly comment).

Well Done Braves....fantastic effort and a really great start to 2010!

Next Sunday we play Dorchester Dynamoes away. They've yet to win a game so provided we take nothing for granted we stand to earn ourselves another 3 pionts....climbing up the league table!