Buckingham 3 Loughborough University 1

With the visitors Loughborough coming off a 5-1 win against Buckingham’s opponents of last week East Grinstead, as well as a creditable draw with last years league winners Holcombe in their last two games, and having lost to the same opposition in pre season, Buckingham were under no illusions as to how tough a fixture this one would be.
In the event Buckingham started really positively, playing with real intent and purpose and it was not long before they deservedly took the lead. Some fine positive play by Tash James led to the first penalty corner of the match and it was James who deflected the ball into the roof of the net from a well rehearsed penalty corner routine, inside five minutes. The game was a real battle but it was Buckingham who proved to be the more clinical of the two sides, as they doubled the lead just before the quarter time break. From their second penalty corner, it was Welsh International Eloise Laity who reacted fastest to steer the rebound home on the volley.
The second quarter followed much the same pattern as the first, with both sides playing with a huge amount of intensity, Buckingham having slightly the better of the play, but with neither side able to make a break through the score remained 2-0 at half time.
The visitors came out firing at the start of the third quarter and that combined with Buckingham being unable to handle the ball meant that pressure began to build. The visitors had far the better of the third quarter but Buckingham’s defence stood firm and they retained their two-goal advantage.
Loughborough continued to have the better of the final quarter and were rewarded on fifty-nine minutes when they deflected a cross home to make the score 2-1. However, Buckingham response was immediate. Just a minute later, after some good link play down the right hand side involving Frankie Scott and Tash James, co-captain Alex Naughalty slotted the ball under the visitors goalkeeper to restore the two goal advantage. Loughborough threw everything at Buckingham in the final ten minutes and even removed their goalkeeper to go to eleven outfield players but the home side remained resolute on defence to earn a hard fought 3-1 victory. The result sees Buckingham clear in third place as their unbeaten start to the season continues.

“Whilst obviously delighted with the result against a very good side, what was more pleasing was many aspects of the performance. In the fist half we played really well with the ball and were clinical when our chances came. In the second half when we weren’t quite playing as well as we would have liked on offence and were being put under a huge amount of pressure but we showed great character as well as some really promising defensive qualities.”