Flackwell put the brakes on Rangers
Brooker says Heath have slowed Risborough's progress
Jack Brooker believes Flackwell Heath have slowed Risborough Rangers’ climb up the Combined Counties Premier Division North table with their 3-0 win at Wilks Park on Saturday.
Charlie Malin (49’), Michael Harding (57’), and Jethro Odumosu (68’) were all on target for the Heathens at the weekend, notably after the Rangers’ Alex Sethi (45+2’) was dismissed on the stroke of half-time.
It’s a result that strengthens Chris Ayres’ side’s position in second while Mark Eaton’s men sit five points adrift of the top five in 11th.
Prior to Saturday, Risborough Rangers had been making steady progress towards the top half of the table, losing just one league game in eight.
“Risborough have got good backing and they have got some players, I would say, that can play higher and win a lot of trophies. In the last two months, they started to pick up some momentum, so it was a big win for us. I think we have culled some of their momentum,” Heathens’ goalkeeper Brooker said to the Advertiser this week.
“I would probably say, if the red card didn’t happen, we would’ve probably won by one or maybe two goals in that game. Before the red card, we had a couple of big chances. There was one Josh Urquhart, the Risborough captain, took off the goalline. Then from two corners, they cleared the ball off the line aswell.
“I would say that it would’ve been closer had there not been a red card, but something would have to have gone drastically wrong for us not to win.”
Brooker added: “I played 300-odd games for Risborough. The last season I was there, the club was in the Spartan South Midlands
Premier Division. We led that league for most of the season and then lost it on the last day.
“They were on a bit of a climb this season – I saw in the last few weeks before they played Rayners Lane and us, they were on a good run. I am still mates with a few of the players. I still live in Risborough too. To be fair, I thought at the start of the season they were probably nailed on as one of the favoured teams to be right in the mix [for promotion]. But, after four or five pre-season games, it showed we didn’t have much to be scared about.”
Next up for Flackwell Heath is a trip to 10th-placed Broadfields United. The Heathens have got
the better of the side twice so far this season, first winning 4-0 at Wilks Park in September (league) and then succeeding 2-0 on home turf in the Challenge Cup back in December.
“Broadfields are a good team. If it wasn’t for their discipline, they would be right up there in the league,” said Brooker. “They have got a lot of local lads to that area that are really good players. As I say, I think they just shoot themselves in the foot [with their discipline]. We’ve got Harefield after that (Saturday, January 20), and they’ve picked up massively recently. Then we move onto Rayners Lane (Saturday, January 27) who are top at the moment.”