Tremendous Win for 4s

After a nerve-wracking 24 hours when we lost 3 players from the squad, Buckingham 4s turned up at Thame with a single sub (Jenny, drafting herself in at the last minute) and several players who had only played for the team a couple of times before. We welcomed Jess Carne to the team for the first time, and in the midfield Frankie and Lucy were playing only their second game for the 4s. With Cat Vince back from university for the day, the team was a little experimental!

We started with Ness, Lorraine and Bev at the back, and Cat and Jess holding screen, and their secure (and at times powerful) play allowed the midfield of Georgie, Frankie and Lucy to settle well and start to push the play consistently up to the Thame 'D' where Tash and Lauren were poised to pounce. After 15 minutes of constant pressure on the Thame goal (and a couple of sudden Thame breaks where Daisy's coolness kept us safe), Jenny came on and Bev switched up front. Very quickly Bev found a tempting gap between the Thame goalie's kickers and netted her second goal for the team, and the first goal of the match. After that we ramped up the pressure on the Thame goal, with Cat pushing up hard and fast from the Buckingham 23, Georgie and Jess running the left wing very sweetly and Frankie dominating the right with great confidence. Lucy worked really well in the middle and Ness took ownership of the centre back with great flair. The pressure seemed to have paid off when Cat ran a free hit in from the five meter line and netted the ball into the top of the goal from the edge of the 'D', but the goal was dissallowed due to the umpires not having had a clear view of the ball's position around the lines.

Thame grabbed a quick goal from a sudden break just before half-time, making the score 1-1 at the break.

During the second half our constant pressure forwards resulted in two further goals for Buckingham, one a very quickly taken move up the pitch from a 16 yard hit-out which Tash netted with great aplomb, and the other a neatly taken chip in for Lauren, giving all our forwards a goal a piece. We were never safe from Thames's dangerous breaks forward, and Daisy, Lorraine, Ness, Bev and Jenny had their work cut out keeping the ball away from the goal, very ably helped by Cat, before play once more switched forwards.

The match was hugely enjoyable and played with great cheerfulness by both sides. Man of the Match was Frankie by a landslide, for playing with great authority and confidence up the whole length of the right side for the whole match.