Goal Fest for Buckingham 4s

Abingdon arrived with only 10 players, but started the match energetically and took the game straight into the Buckingham 23, giving the 4s a nerve-wracking first few minutes. Lizz was captain for the match and stepped up to screen where she did an inspiring job turning the direction of play back towards the Abingdon goal.The girls' first attacks were a little tentative and disconnected. A quick attack after 14 minutes gave Lucy an opening goal, but it was another 14 minutes and a couple of short corners before Buckingham scored again with a straight strike from Charlotte to convert a panlty corner. Meanwhile Abingdon had suffered a couple of injuries, one from a ball shooting up off an Abingdon stick and another when their captain retired hurt after running into a Buckingham strike on goal at a penalty corner.

At half-time Buckingham were only two goals up despite facing only nine players. A quick talk from Ness reminding everyone how well they can play when they engage completely transformed the match. We were a different team in the second half, with the first goal coming after only 2 minutes when Charlotte converted a penalty corner, followed a couple of minutes later when a brilliant cross from Lucy was finished by Tash with a perfect tap-in off from the post. Three minutes later Marion started her tally with a neat little tap in, before scoring again from free play 5 minutes later. Within the next 5 minutes Lucy completed her hat trick with a couple of excellent runs up the wing from mid-field. Marion then completed her hat trick a couple of minutes later, rapidly followed by another goal for Tash, giving Buckingham 10 goals.

The Buckingham defence of Eliza, Kenzie and Jenny kept the half-way line secure, leaving an 7-on-8 match played almost exclusively in the Abingdon half. The massive scoreline for Buckingham was aided by the failure of the Abingdon forwards to engage themselves fully in defence, leaving only 4 or five players to try to contain the increasingly rampant Buckingham players. The last 10 minutes of the match saw another 4 goals scored with Georgie scoring a rare goal up from screen, Tash putting away another 2, one from a fine smash, bringing her total to 4, and Marion converting a final short corner a couple of minutes from the final whistle to also bring in 4 goals.

Lucy was voted Player of Match for her tireless energy and commitment up the left wing and great linking play into the D