Sonning veterans out think Buckingham in 5-1 battle

A very tough match indeed with Sonning fielding a very experienced, canny older team who would have effectively challenged the best in the division. Buckingham had the bulk of the possession and most of the match was played in the Sonning half, but the opposition's strategy of packing their defence against everything we could throw at them and then using powerful long passes to cut through our lines to their high forwards resulted in a 5-1 defeat for Buckingham which went completely against the flow of play. The match was a steep learning curve for everyone about the risks of throwing all our energies into striving for goals without keeping our backline carefully covered.

Our only goal was a short corner conversion in the first half - lovely to see a pc pay off. I'm waiting for someone to let me know who put it into the net!

Our umpire commented that despite the result, there was some lovely play from the Buckingham girls. Amalia had a great debut and made the Sonning left goalpost her special territory just as asked to do; Olivia made the save of the season, batting a swiping mid-air tennis shot from Sonning out of the air at close quarters; Frankie, Charlotte and Lucy were tireless in midfield, energetically aided by Issy C, and it was nice to welcome Mackenzie back to the squad. Lucy got Player of the Match by a landslide, having taken on screen, midfield and forward at different points in the match.