Saturday 22nd March 2008

• Opponent: Anchor
• Fixture type: League
• Venue: Away
• Result: Lost 5-0

Match Report

Buckland went into the game weakened by the absence of the manager John Adams and defensive midfield maestro Matt Cann. Simon Leach returned to the fold for his first game since the New Year. Jake Lomax was moved to emergency full-back and Vinny Bott moved back to midfield.

The game first came to life after 15 minutes when the home team scored from a free-kick on the edge of Bucklands’ area. The defensive wall was still being organised when a quick kick was taken and fooled the defence. Anchor continued to stretch the Buckland defence and were soon two goals up and narrowly avoided conceding further when a shot from a Steve Tucker tackle sailed just wide and Dan Barnes pulled off a one-handed save at full stretch on the goal-line. Buckland began to fight back and had some chances which fell just short in goal mouth scrambles.

The second half started brightly for Buckland with Ed Jonk and Simon Leach both having shots narrowly miss the Anchor goal. With half an hour to go and Buckland needing 3 points to stay in title contention the formation was changed to 4-3-3 with Vinny Bott pushed forward to the attack. The game was immediately put beyond Buckland’s reach when the home side went 3-0 up following a corner. The team never lost spirit and continued to give their all until the end, unfortunately the play became rushed and players lost their composure on the ball. The Anchor wrapped up the win with two further breakaway goals and some fine finishing, but not before Danny Barnes had pulled off an amazing triple save.

Man of the Match: Gary Montague (midfield) & Jake Lomax (defender)