1sts win 4-3 in the first playoff

On Sunday, Buckingham made the trip to Cannock for their first playoff match against East Conference Champions, East Grinstead.
The side got off to a fantastic start playing with real attacking intent and purpose. A superb passing move and run down the right by Great Britain international Morag McLellan resulted in Jess Bloom firing home on the reverse stick after just four minutes.

With Buckingham dominant in the opening exchanges, a cheap turnover gave East Grinstead’s Great Britain international Sophie Bray their first opportunity a few minutes later but Anna Searle was alert to the danger, making a fine double save. However, Buckingham were in unstoppable form going forward, and it was not long before they extended their lead with Captain Zoe Shipperley firing home from Buckingham’s first penalty corner in the fourteenth minute.

Buckingham continued to pass with the quality, pace and tempo of a Premier League side that East Grinstead struggled to match and Leanne Grimsley made it 3-0 just eight minutes later. Firing home a rebound after a blistering run from outstanding player of the match Katrina Nicholson. Buckingham continued to create openings but found EG’s Great Britain goalkeeper in fine form to deny them a fourth. With just two minutes to go until the break a lapse in concentration resulted in EG’s first penalty corner and despite the first attempt being blocked, they scored with a neat deflection from the re-award to give themselves a lifeline and take the score to 3-1 at half time.
Buckingham immediately picked up where they had left off at the start of the second half, moving the ball with quality and causing problems for the EG defence and it was not long before they extended their lead further. Kitty Higgins deflecting a well rehearsed penalty corner routine into the roof of the net to make the score 4-1.

However, from the restart a lapse in concentration gifted EG their third penalty corner of the game. The initial strike deflected off number one runner Bloom into the net to take the score to 4-2. Despite Buckingham having the better of the next twenty minutes, they could not extend the lead further as East Grinstead showed why they were Conference Champions. They refused to give up and when Buckingham conceded a soft goal to make the score 4-3 with just two minutes to go, the nerves began to show with EG having a couple of half chances before the final whistle was blown.

It was a very positive start to the playoff campaign and with Slough beating Wakefield 3-0 in the earlier match, Buckingham currently sit in second place on goal difference. The final two play-off matches are on the weekend of 18/19 April at Lee Valley Hockey centre in Olympic Park in London where Buckingham will face Wakefield on the Saturday before taking on Slough on the Sunday.

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Zak Jones
“it was a very pleasing performance especially given the frustrations and disappointments of the last few weeks. The girls played with a real, pace tempo and intensity that EG struggled to match which is no doubt a result of competing in the Premier League all year and we passed the ball exceptionally well in a real team performance.

I was a little disappointed that it was not more comfortable especially when you consider that we were 3-0 and 4-1 up but you have to give EG credit as they refused to give up. It was also a little bit frustrating to concede some pretty soft goals and this is an area we must look to improve upon for the remaining two games. However, this should not detract from what was a fantastic performance and it was great to be back scoring goals!!"