Saturday 21st November 2009

• Opponent: Sporting Barum
• Fixture type: League
• Venue: Home
• Result: Lost 4-3
• Scorers: Simon Adams, Ben Dooley, Andrew Large

Match Report

It was a close call as to whether the game would be played as the torrential rain poured for most of Saturday morning. Just as kick-off time approached the rain eased and the referee deemed the pitch playable. Unfortunately for Buckland their opponents, Sporting Barum, took a two goal lead inside the opening 25 minutes. A long range shot from Simon Adams, which was superbly saved by the keeper, was the best effort by the home team during the first half.

Andrew Large scrambled a close range shot into the net after only 5 minutes of the second period, for his first goal for the Club. This early strike seemed to give the home team a deserved lift. An early second half substitution, Sam Morgan-Shaw being replaced by Wayne Slade, for only his second appearance this season also settled the Buckland defence. Debutant Martin Rawle and Simon Adams in midfield held the upper hand against their opponents and when the two players combined passes 15 minutes into the half, Simon curled a superb 20yd shot into the far corner of the net to level the scores. Sporting' edged ahead only minutes later with a good shot from the edge of the penalty area as the Buckland players relaxed following the earlier goal. Great determination saw Buckland once again level the scores as Ben Dooley latched onto a loose ball following a goalmouth melee and prodded home from close range. The game seemed to be heading for a draw until a bizarre own goal crashed Buckland's hopes only minutes from the end. A cross into the box was heading towards the keeper when Buckland's central defender ran across the flight of the ball and instead of heading the ball clear attempted to duck out of the way only for the ball to clip the side of his head and deflect past the stranded keeper into the net.

Man of the Match: Simon Adams (midfield)