Buckingham 2 Surbiton 5

On Saturday they welcomed reigning champions and current table toppers Surbiton to Stowe. Having lost narrowly, 3-2 away from home, Buckingham were determined to put in another good performance.
They started the brighter of the two sides. They created a couple of early openings and it was top scorer Tash James who pounced on a rebound from her initial shot to give the home side the lead after seven minutes. Buckingham earned a penalty corner and a chance to extend their lead shortly afterwards to but the shot was blocked and it was the visitors who were back on level terms just thirty seconds before the end of the quarter, converting from their own well worked penalty corner routine.
The visitors took the lead just four minutes into the second quarter lead when a turnover in midfield led to swift counter attack that was eventually turned into the home sides own net by Lauren Thomas. Buckingham battled hard to get back into the game with an Abbie Brant deflection from a slick penalty corner routine sailing just over the bar. However, the home side were on level terms just a minute before half time courtesy of a superb backhand volley finish from Lottie Porter.
In a fast paced game, both sides created chances in the third quarter but neither could convert as the sides went into the last quarter all square and with all to play for.
It was the visitors who took the lead just a minute into the final quarter when they converted a penalty stroke, following another well rehearsed penalty corner routine and they extended their lead further when another turnover in midfield an some sloppy defending resulted in Zoe Shipperley deflecting into her own net. With Player Of The Match Katrina Nicholson to the fore, Buckingham pushed forward and created a number of good openings but they could not convert and the visitors sealed the win with another goal three minutes from time.