Buckingham 2 Stourport 1

In a top of the table clash against Stourport on Sunday, Buckingham came away with a vital 2-1 victory to take them level on points at the top of the league - the visitors remaining ahead at the by virtue of goal difference only. Buckingham started slowly as they had last week. Once again, they were a little lacklustre and struggling to find their usual fluidity. The result was that they were forced to defend a series of penalty corners inside the first ten minutes. It was not long before the visitors took the lead when some sloppy defending resulted in a penalty stroke which they converted to go 1-0 up. Despite not quite being at their best, the first quarter had been relatively even and Buckingham gradually battled their way back into the match. They created a number of decent opportunities and it was Abbie Brant who brought the sides level. She fired a spectacular back hand shot into the top corner of the net on twenty-nine minutes to make the half times score 1-1.
Buckingham regrouped in the break, started far the better of the two sides and created a couple of very good chances in the opening minutes. Having rediscovered their rhythm on offence and intensity on defence, they took control of the game in the third quarter. In this good spell, a fine long pass forward found Phoebe Richards who used her pace to good effect and smashed the ball into the bottom corner to make the score 2-1 after forty-five minutes. Buckingham created a number of other good opportunities to extend their lead but they couldn't capitalise and the visitors fought their way back into the match when a couple of unfortunate yellow cards resulted in the home side playing much of the last ten minutes a player down. This led to some nervy moments as the visitors earned a number of penalty corners towards the end on the game. However, these were defended superbly, with player of the match Frankie Scott outstanding, Buckingham held on and were delighted to come through a really tight encounter with an important but hard won victory.