Saturday 27th December 2008
- Opponent: Northam Lions
- Fixture type: League
- Venue: Home
- Result: Won 4-1
- Scorers: Simon Adams, Vincent Bott (2), Matt Horn
Match Report
A sunny, but frosty and windy afternoon greeted the teams for this festive fixture. Buckland with the wind at their backs for the opening period found their lowly opponents in anything but festive mood. An evenly contested initial 25 minutes eventually edged in favour of the home side as a speculative lob from 30yds by Simon Adams caught the keeper off his line. The ball dropping just under the crossbar to give the advantage to Buckland. Although the ‘Lions held the greater possession during the first half, the home team’s defence was superbly marshalled by Martin Tucker, which restricted the visitors to only one clear goal scoring opportunity during the whole 45 minutes.
Less than 3 minutes into the second period and Buckland had doubled their advantage. A defenders header back towards the keeper was mishandled by the player, under pressure from Vinny Bott. The loose ball was seized upon by Bott who calmly placed his shot in the back of the net. Buckland subsequently dominated proceedings with a third goal being added by Matt Horn, as he calmly collected a cross field ball, side stepped the last defender and slotted a shot under the diving keeper with 25 minutes played. An injury to keeper John Adams, with 15 minutes to play, meant an unexpected period between the sticks for defender Jake Lomax. He collected a couple of crosses, with composure, before being beaten with a shot from close range following a goalmouth melee 10 minutes from full time. His team mates wasted no time in restoring the three goal advantage as a fine four man passing move ended with Vinny Bott neatly chipping the keeper at the near post only minutes later. This sealed victory and with other results ending in Buckland’s favour the team would enter the New Year in joint top position in the division.
Man of the Match: Martin Tucker (defender)