Saturday 9th February 2008

• Opponent: Bratton Fleming
• Fixture type: League
• Venue: Away
• Result: Won 1-0
• Scorers: John Stanton

Match Report

Buckland travelled to Bratton Fleming with a weakened team as several members were unavailable for different reasons. Once again John Adams had to don his gloves, together with striker Matt Horn who was in the starting line-up for the first time in several months.

The early stages were evenly contested with both sides testing the ageing opposition goalkeepers. As the match progressed the midfield players on both sides were busy, but the final pass to the strikers was generally over hit and came to nothing. The home side had a succession of corners after 20 minutes which the Buckland rear guard did well to deal with. Minutes later a Buckland counter attack saw the ball hit firmly across the Bratton goalmouth to John Stanton at the far post who had the simplest of tap-ins to put the visitors ahead. The home side were almost given a helping hand 15 minutes before the break when a sliced clearance from Simon Adams, following a corner, looped goal bound. Fortunately the ball was tipped over the crossbar by his alert goalkeeping father. Buckland came close on a couple of occasions towards half time but failed to add to their total.

The second half was only 5 minutes old when a good low cross by the Bratton winger eluded the Buckland defence and found a colleague at the far post only for the player to slice the ball wide of an unguarded goalmouth from 6yds. This incident spurred Buckland into action and for the next 30 minutes pressed forward with the home defence being put under increasing pressure. On several occasions striker Simon Adams raced clear of the opposition defence but his shots edged agonisingly wide of the target. Substitute Steve Bennett had only been on the pitch 2 minutes when he avoided the last defender only for his firm shot from 18yds, to fly just over the crossbar. The second all important goal would just not materialise. With only seconds of the game remaining a deep cross found the Bratton centre forward yards ahead of the Buckland defence, he brushed aside the challenge from the keeper and knocked the ball into the net. Luckily for Buckland the linesman had flagged for offside and the goal was controversially disallowed.

Man of the Match: Gary Montague & Matt Cann (midfield)