Buckingham 3 University of Birmingham 1

Wanting to put the frustration of last weeks draw behind them, Buckingham went into their third Premier League game of the season in a determined mood. The opening quarter was hotly contested and played at a frenetic pace. Buckingham created a couple of clear cut opportunities but couldn't quite execute the final pass and it was the visitors who opened the scoring, from their first real opportunity just before the quarter time break. In the second quarter, Buckingham began to exert more control but despite having the better of both possession and territory in the period, they were unable to get back on level terms.
Following a slight tweak to their attacking structure at half time, Buckingham continued to look the more threatening side and were duly rewarded just before the third quarter interval when Player Of The Match Kitty Higgins deflected the ball home from a well worked penalty corner.
It was Higgins who gave the home side the lead just minutes into the final quarter, deflecting that ball home from an identical routine. Buckingham remained in the ascendency and they extended their lead with ten minutes remaining, when a fine passing move down the right hand side saw Tash James finish from close range. Buckingham continued to push forward, with Higgins just centimetres away from claiming a hat trick but despite the visitors being reduced to ten players for the final six minutes of the match, Buckingham could not extend their lead further.

"I was really pleased with the response to the disappointment of last week. Although, at times our accuracy was not quite what we would have liked it to be, we played with real intensity, purpose and intent throughout. Some of our new defensive structures are starting to take shape and I was really pleased with our execution at penalty corner time. This week sees another tough away fixture at East Grinstead, so we will be working hard in the week to be ready to meet that challenge."