University of Birmingham 1 Buckingham 2

On Sunday Buckingham took on second placed University of Birmingham in the England Hockey Championship (new version of the cup). In a game that saw youngster Millie Holme make her first team debut the day after her fifteenth birthday. Probably suffering from a slight hangover from the emotion of eighteen hours before, Buckingham started slowly but gradually grew into the game. They enjoyed much the better of both territory an possession but found the home sides goal keeper in inspired form and were always kept on their toes, as the home side remained a real threat on the counter attack. A number of chances came and went but it was Leanne Grimsley who opened the scoring from a well worked penalty corner routine after twenty-nine minutes. Despite creating a number of other chances prior to the break, Buckingham could not extend their lead.
Buckingham dominated much of the second half and had a number of periods of sustained pressure but just could not find the second goal that would give them some breathing space and when the home side were awarded a penalty corner with eight minutes remaining, the missed opportunities came back to haunt them. The home sides initial strike was unfortunately deflected past the hapless Jackson by Grimsley. The game now looked like it was heading for a draw and the lottery of penalties but once again, Buckingham showed their spirit and fighting qualities. They immediately went on the offensive, earned a succession of penalty corners and it was player of match Kitty Higgins, who had been outstanding throughout, who forced the ball home form a rebound with two minutes remaining to seal the win.