Saturday 4th October 2008

• Opponent: Lynton
• Fixture type: League
• Venue: Home
• Result: Drew 1-1
• Scorers: Dave Stanton

Match Report

A wet and windy afternoon made conditions difficult for both teams. Lynton began by playing the neater short passing football, but Buckland's more direct approach caused the greater problems during the first 20 minutes.

Buckland defender Jake Lomax found himself clear of the visiting defence after 10 minutes but his mis-hit shot was easily gathered by the keeper. Lynton edged ahead midway through the half following hesitation in the home defence. A cross into the box landed between a couple of defenders only for the ball to bounce off one of the players knees before falling at the feet of a Lynton striker who fired into the net from close range. Within minutes Buckland had the opportunity to equalise. Vinny Bott blocked an attempted clearance, took the ball around the keeper only for his shot to be blocked on the line by a covering defender. With seconds of the half remaining defender Dave Stanton launched the ball into the opposition penalty area from just inside his own half. The cross flew high over the last defenders and Buckland strikers straight to the goalkeeper who amasingly allowed the ball to bounce past him into the net.

The second half was played for long periods in Bucklands half of the pitch. Fortunately for the home side their opponents were unable to penetrate a stubborn defence and the safe hands of keeper Danny Barnes. In fact the keeper kept his side in the hunt with two great saves from close range shots late in the game. In saying this, Buckland looked very dangerous on the counter attack with the pace and direct approach of strikers Simon Adams & Vinny Bott stretching the opposition defence on more than one occasion. Due to injuries, both players had to be replaced late in the game. This gave a debut to teenager Kyle Taylor along side fellow substitute striker Steve Bennett.

Man of the Match: Andrew Large (defender)