Buckingham 6 Wimbledon 4

Following an unbeaten pre season campaign which included draws with ISCA (1-1) and Slough (2-2) and wins against Bath (3-0), Stourport (2-0 away), Sutton Coldfield (3-0), Brooklands (2-0), Stourport (4-1 home) and Beeston (3-1), Buckingham completed their preparation with home game against last East Conference Champions and playoff rivals Wimbledon.

Buckingham started very well. Shipperley smashing a penalty corner home as early as the third minute to take the lead. The home side were having the better of the play and had a number of chances to extend lead but they couldn't convert and then conceded a very soft penalty corner goal to make the score 1-1.
It was a high paced and intense game but Buckingham extended their lead with a well rehearsed penalty corner routine when Kitty Higgins deflected the ball high into the net to make the score 2-1. Buckingham continued to have the better of the half but failed to capitalise further and following some sloppy defending, Wimbledon scored again to level the score two minutes before half time.
Buckingham began the second half brightly. Another well worked penalty corner routine resulted in Abbie Brant deflecting the ball into the roof for 3-2. The home side extended their lead a few minutes later when some fine play from Brant and Kat Nicholson saw one of Buckingham new international signings, Eloise Laity force the ball home from close range. However, Buckingham switched- off from the restart and Wimbledon took full advantage of more soft defending to reduce the deficit to a single goal once again. Undeterred, Buckingham continued to play flowing, attacking hockey it and it was not long before Laity claimed her second and Buckingham's fifth to extend the lead once more and take the score to 5-3. Buckingham continued to be in the ascendency and Higgins claimed her second from an identical penalty corner routine to take the score out to 6-3. However, the visitors refused to lie down and reduced the deficit again shortly afterward from their second penalty corner and despite a number of near misses for the home side in the closing minutes, the game finished 6-4 in Buckingham’s favour.

“We are pretty pleased with pre-season prep on the whole and also the performance on Saturday. Scoring six goals against a quality side like Wimbledon shows what we are capable of in attack and whilst conceding four was not obviously ideal. The goals did not come from anything organisational or structural, just some sloppy basic defending, which means they are things that should be easily remedied. We have added some quality players to the squad over the summer, signing four Welsh senior internationals - Danni Jordan, Eloise Laity, Hannah Cozens and Emily Rowlands as well as England an GB U21 international Rebecca Van Berkel, so we feel like we are in a pretty good place. Although things have been a little disjointed with players away on international duty and as yet, not yet having had everyone available at the same time, we already feel that we are starting to gel as a group. We now have real depth in the squad and I am really excited about the talent and potential in the group. We are all really looking forward to the challenge of the Investec Premier League once again and in bringing to class hockey back to Stowe where many of Great Britains Olympic gold medallist will be on show during the season”.