1 - 1 Draw against Wycombe 4s

After a two week break due to another away match default, the 4s started slowly against Wycombe 4. With several fresh members in the team this season, energy and teamwork took a while to emerge in a scrappy starting period. Generously, Helen and Charlie Wilson had stepped down from the 3s to ensure that we could field a full team, and their experience helped give the team some structure. Things started to happen with our first short corner at 10 minutes, which quickly turned into a penalty flick, very rare at our level, when a Wycombe defender's foot stopped the ball on the goal line. Amalia bravely stepped up to take the flick, but her strike went straight into the goalie's pads. Still, invaluable experience! Four minutes later Wycombe scored the first goal in a hectic goalmouth scramble.

The team gradually picked up pace and position, vigorously marshalled by Helen, and after a bully re-start at 22 minutes we began to exert consistent pressure on Wycombe. The reward came at 31 minutes with a lovely, sharp strike into the net by captain Tash Patel, levelling the score. The first half finished with a sequence of 3 short corners to Buckingham after the whistle, with the team having their first experience of 'All up! All up!' to surround the Wycombe goal, alas to no avail.

The second half was very even, with both teams moving the ball about well, sharing the honours in winning short corners. The Buckingham defense of Charlie, Maddie, Sue and Jenny usually managed to keep the ball clear of the goal, but Daisy came to their rescue several times with some lovely, bold saves. Eliza and Mackenzie in screen both showed themselves to be keen midfielders, often enthusiastically penetrating right up to the Wycombe D. Missy, Amalia and Olivia kept the pace going, repeatedly turning the ball back up to Helen and Tash up front, but we couldn't find the net again.

The final score of 1 - 1 was a very fair reflection of the match. It would have been a pity for either side to lose a cheerful and eventually energetic match. As Daisy said, the whole team deserved the Man of the Match award. Tash and Olivia shared the votes for MoM, both players who have come into their own as senior members of the new season team.