Broadbridge Heath 3-0 Badshot Lea

Our final pre-season friendly was against Pitching In Isthmian South-Central side Badshot Lea, played at the BodyMould Stadium on Saturday 22nd July.

This was our fourth friendly against opposition from this division with one win, one draw and one defeat so the expectations were for another close game and that’s exactly how the first half of this match turned out to be.

Heath created the first opening of the match on 12 minutes when Mason Doughty won the ball wide on the right and played a through ball into the path of Mario Quiasacca who struck it first time with his right foot but was denied by the Badshot keeper sprinting off his line to block the goal attempt.

The visitor’s best move of the half came on 22 minutes and ended with the ball being played through to their No. 11 who hammered a right foot shot that crashed against the Heath crossbar before being cleared to safety.

In the closing stages Quiasacca was again put through, this time by Matt Penfold but once more the striker was thwarted by the alert Badshot keeper sprinting off his line to block his shot and bring to a close a pretty even first half.

Major changes for the Bears at half-time, one of which saw Ashley Mutongerwa come off the bench and the striker certainly made an impact by putting the Bears ahead within a minute of the restart when he robbed the ball off a Badshot defender and then struck a low right foot shot into the bottom left corner of the net giving the keeper no chance of stopping.

Mutongerwa came close to making it 2-0 a minute later when a quick Charlie Parmiter free kick was played to Sam Lemon who slipped a pass through to the Heath striker but his right foot effort flashed inches wide of the post.

Heath were dominating attacking play with Sam Lemon testing the keeper with a shot from 25 yards, Mutongerwa hitting a right foot effort that came off the inside of the post and straight into the arms of the keeper, Bradley Campbell having his right foot shot deflected wide of the goal, Jamie Chesworth hitting a volley that dipped just over the crossbar and Charlie Parmiter blasting wide of target when well placed.

A second goal finally arrived for the Bears 15 minutes from time when Louis Evan played the ball out wide left to Campbell who cut inside and unleashed a fierce right foot shot from distance that flew into the bottom left corner of the net.

In the closing stages Heath wrapped up the game with a third when the ball found its way to Quiasacca on the edge of the box and the striker played a cheeky back heel pass to Mutongerwa who dribbled the ball around the keeper to tap in from a yard to bring to an end a really good team performance from the Bears.

Our Next match is a tough one when we travel to the Sussex County Headquarters at Culver Road on Wednesday evening where we play National League side Worthing in the Sussex County FA Community Shield, Kick Off is at 7.30. Hope you can make it.