Broadbridge Heath Under 23s kicked off the defence of the League Cup they won last season with a First Round home match against Loxwood on Thursday evening at the Air Engineering Stadium home of Broadbridge Heath Football Club.

A slow start to the match changed on 11 minutes when Ted Cooksley won the ball in the centre of the park and played a pass between two defenders that allowed Keanin Louw to run through on goal and fire a left foot shot from 16 yards that was well saved by the Loxwood goalkeeper Liam Nakazawa.

That reprieve was short lived though as Nathan Kennedy-Tamplin received the ball wide on the right and ran at the Loxwood defence taking the ball to the goal-line before cutting it back into the path of Luke York whose right foot shot was blocked on the line, the ball came out to Michael Fraser some 18 yards from goal who struck a right foot shot that Louw poked home from close range for his third of the season.

Heath continued to create chances and minutes later York played the ball inside to Fraser who struck a first time right foot shot that was well saved by Nakazawa diving low to his right and moments later Kennedy-Tamplin saw his goal-bound effort blocked by the Loxwood goalkeeper.

Heath doubled their led on the half hour mark and the assist came from the unfamiliar sight of Tito Salaam running with pace down the left flank before cutting inside, beating a defender and then squaring the ball across the face of goal to Kennedy-Tamplin for a tap-in from close range to make it 2-0 at the break.

Heath made changes at half-time and in was one of those substitutes Will Dodd who had the first shot on target within minutes of the restart with a left foot shot from distance which was gathered comfortably by Nakazawa.

On 52 minutes Loxwood's Bright Tichaleva found himself in space wide on the right and advanced towards goal before striking a right foot shot from distance straight at the Bears goalkeeper Stan Williamson and the Heath keeper was in action again on the hour mark to save from Loxwood striker Mehki Marsh.

Midway through the second half Fraser split the Loxwood defence with a pass that saw Louw run through on goal but Nakazawa was off his line quickly to block the shot with Fraser firing a right foot shot from the rebound narrowly over the crossbar.

Heath sealed the win in the closing stages with a third goal when Harry Kent won he ball off a defender from the right back position and played the ball across the face of goal to Dodd to convert from six yards, his first goal for the Under 23s.

In the 2nd Round of the cup Heath will be away to Shoreham U23s, date to be confirmed.
Team: Williamson, Bedir, Plinston, Hayes, Salaam, Cooksley, York, Kent, Louw, Frazer, Kennedy-Tamplin. Subs: Devlin, Wraight, Dodd, Buchanan, Duneclift.