Firebrands 0 Buckingham 3

On Saturday Buckingham took on Firebrands in their third fixture of the season. They made the trip to Bristol without captain and GB star Zoe Shipperley, who who had been ruled out in the week, until Christmas with an ankle injury.
Perhaps this affected the squad as they began poorly, unable to find their usual fluency in attack. To the hosts credit, they came at Buckingham from the start and the intensity of their defence meant that Buckingham struggled to get their passing game going. The first half ended with honours even. Goalkeeper Ella Jackson making a couple of timely interventions whilst, at the other end Buckingham spurned a number of very good opportunities.
After regrouping at half time, the side started to pass and handle the ball better which resulted in Buckingham gradually gaining control. It was not long before a period of pressure and some fine passing involving Lottie Porter & Abbie Brant, saw Welsh International Phoebe Richards neatly deflect the ball home after forty two minutes. With Buckingham now firmly in the ascendency, they doubled their lead on fifty one minutes when the outstanding Katrina Nicholson carried powerfully through midfield and unleashed shot-come-cross that found its was into the net with the help of a defensive deflection. Ten minutes later Buckingham sealed victory with their third goal, following a re-awarded penalty corner. The second time around, a well rehearsed routine saw Captain and MVP, Kitty Higgins deflect the ball spectacularly into the roof of the net. Despite continued pressure for the remainder of the match, Buckingham were unable to extend their lead further but were happy to come away from a tough encounter with the 3-0 victory. This week they travel away to take on top of the table Olton, in what could be a crucial encounter.