Brocton 1 Southam United 3

It would take a top performance from Brocton to hold this year’s high flying Southam United and the home side came out looking as though they would give it their best. Brocton attacked in numbers and passed with conviction, whilst their visitors contained the threats to their own goal and swept quickly up field in numbers whenever a break was on.

It was directly from Brocton’s first real chance, when a corner was flicked on and the subsequent shot slipped agonisingly wide, that Souham first showed their mettle. A long ball put the Brocton defence under pressure and a back pass towards Mike Shelper was intercepted. Only a brave dive and then a second smothering tackle by the keeper got Brocton off the hook.

Just three minutes later, after another nearly but not quite attack from the home side, a swift pass all along the right flank saw Matt Skinner kicking at fresh air as the ball was dinked past him and before he could recover, it had been crossed into the box. Initially it looked too high, bur Richard Jones could not get his head to it and just a jink infield and swift shot from Steve Jones, left Shelper helpless and Southam in the lead.

Brocton reacted well and played right through the middle of midfield before a Gary Fife cross skimmed off Mick Fox’s head and wide of the net. But Southam showed that the previous move was no fluke by all but repeating the does moments later. This time the cross from the right was all along the floor and the immediate shot beat Shelper and found Karl McLeod unable to do anything but let it hit his arm on the line. Dan Pirvu made no mistake with the resultant penalty.

Southam looked in command of the game from that moment, but still Brocton, through the excellent Lee Scott, made two good chances one hit wide from the narrowest of angles and one superbly saved by visiting keeper Steve Barnes. Once again Southam struck back with a move all along the right touch line, this time the pass was shielded and let run as Kevin McGarvey ran inside the close marking full back and collected the ball before hitting a low cross which had only to be tapped home by Josh Cole.

Southam made more chances in the second period, but a combination of stout defending and wayward finishing kept the score respectable, before the hard working and hitherto unfortunate Lee Scott grabbed a consolation with a great volley almost at the death. Brocton made a number of decent chances during the final moments, but Southam thoroughly deserved their winning margin.