Bowdon 0 Buckingham 1

On Saturday, Buckingham made the long away trip to Manchester. They started really well, earning three penalty corners in succession in the opening minute of the match. However, they found Bowdon’s ex Great Britain international goal keeper in fine form as she made three fantastic stops, two from Zoe Shipperley and one from Lauren Thomas to deny Buckingham an early lead. The visitors continued to have the better of the opening exchanges and a superb passing move involving the outstanding Katrina Nicholson and England U18 Alice Rolfe saw Tash James’s close in volley come crashing off the cross bar, with the GK well beaten. Another penalty corner a few minutes later brought another good stop from the home keeper and Phoebe Richards had another snap shot saved almost immediately afterwards. Despite dominating the first twenty minutes, Buckingham had nothing to show for their efforts and the home side came back into the game. Bowdon earned their first penalty corner in the twenty-second minute and Buckingham were thankful to player of the match Ella Jackson in goal, as she came up with a fine stop to keep the scores level. With Buckingham temporarily reduced to ten players, Jackson made a smart double save after twenty-four minutes and another fine save diving across her goal a minute later to keep the score 0-0. Restored to eleven, Buckingham went straight down the other end where Richards was again denied on two more occasions. Buckingham earned another penalty corner with three minutes remaining in the half but once again the home keeper showed her quality. If her first save from a deflection was not good enough, her second was unbelievable as she somehow denied James from point blank. Buckingham’s sixth penalty corner with a minute remaining brought another fine save but the home side failed to clear the danger fully and the ball spilled to Shipperley on the edge of the D. She needed no second invitation and she rifled an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner almost as the half time whistle sounded.
It was a scrappy start to the second half. The home side had a opportunity from penalty corner early on but it came to nothing as the game became a midfield battle. A defensive error after ten minutes resulted in a lucky escape for Buckingham, as it was the home sides turn to hit the woodwork. With Buckingham having their worst phase of the game and struggling to hold onto the ball for any period of time, another turnover, gifted Bowdon a penalty corner just moments later but some good defence meant the danger was averted. Buckingham conceded another penalty corner after twenty minutes but once again Jackson and the defence stood firm. The visitors finally began to get a foothold in the half and earned a penalty corner of their own but it was saved once again and the home keeper made another double save in open play a couple of minutes later. Although, Bowdon continued to push hard for an equaliser in the last ten minutes, Buckingham defended resolutely and despite a few nervy moments, held on for a hard fought 1-0 win.