Slough 3 Buckingham 1

Buckingham’s return to the Investec Premier League did not go to plan when their first match ended in disappointment, as they went down 3-1 away at Slough.
Buckingham started nervously when some soft defending gifted the home side a penalty corner within the first minute and they took full advantage scrambling the ball home for a 1-0 lead. This was far from the ideal start, but to their credit Buckingham settled and began to play some good passing hockey with Katrina Nicholson and player of the match Zoe Shipperley both going close. However, things got worse when against the run of play, the home side earned their second penalty corner from which they were gifted an incredibly soft goal. After just ten minutes of play, Buckingham now had a mountain to climb. To their credit, the ladies responded almost immediately when a period of sustained pressure resulted in Wales International Phoebe Richards firing the ball home, to take the score to 2-1 after just twelve minutes. Buckingham continued to pass the ball well and have the better of the exchanges for the remainder of the half but could not find a way through.
The second half was a scrappy midfield battle with chances few and far between as both sides struggled to find any fluency it attack. Despite a couple of half chances Buckingham could not find a equaliser as they struggled to get their passing game going and with just under ten minutes to go, a cheap turnover and some sloppy defending gifted the home side their third and all but killed the game as a contest. Buckingham pushed hard in the closing stages and came close to reducing the deficit but the home side remained resolute to see out the match and claim all three points.

“It was a frustrating start and obviously a disappointing result. We gave away two very soft goals - the first possibly down to nerves and we need to learn that we cannot afford to give anyone in this league a head start! Their third goal was also totally preventable and just highlighted the fact that must handle the ball better and stick to our principles on defence, otherwise we will get punished at this level. On the positive side, we actually played pretty well with the ball, especially in the first half. We will continue to look to improve throughout the week and are really looking forward to our first home game against Canterbury on Saturday."