After another unlucky result last week, Buckden hosted Bar Hill at home with a strong squad available to the temporary Manager Graham Pearce. The squad were in high spirits from the moment they turned up which was followed by a strong warm up and you could sense that the team were up for a good game today having drawn away in the previous fixture after missing a host of chances to win the game.
After individual chats from Pearcy to most members of his squad there was not much to say other than an emphasis on the pressing and passing game which has been implemented from the off this season.
Kick off saw Buckden start well against a very physical Bar hill side and had to soak up a lot of pressure in the first ten minutes with a solid defensive performance as a team. It was from the result of the aggressive pressing style that saw James Woo win the ball down the left hand side, drive into the box and roll the ball across to Jack Bramley who slotted the ball away to make it 1-0. This however did not stop Bar hills aggressive approach but Josh Smith and Luke Fennel did not shy away from any responsibility and kept producing great football between the two of them getting the balls into channels for Dom Smith and James to attack their opposing full-backs. The referee was awarding soft free kicks all over the park which suited Buckden for once and after numerous attempts to beat the first man from different players, Jordan Mason stepped up to take one just inside the Buckden half and floated a ball in the area between the defensive line and goalkeeper for Dom Smith to convert. Once again this did not take the steam out of Bar hill with the pressure still being applied to the Buckden defence who had dealt with the pressure extremely well. Bar hill won a corner and the ball was pumped into the mix, Ollie Day called for the ball and clattered his defenders in an effort to clear it with his fists however slightly misjudged the flight of the ball which resulted in a bar Hill player getting in front of the Keeper to dispatch an easy header to make it 2-1 with around 10 minutes left of the first half. This seemed to make Buckden nervous but they managed to hold out to the interval which couldn’t have been timed better.
So the turn of the temporary manager to step up and give wise words of wisdom at half time was now upon him, However to everyone’s surprise it seemed to be a Yoga class for the first 5 minutes as they were asked not to speak just think about the performance, what they had done in the half and consume a lot of fluids. This was followed by an emphasis to keep pressing the game. A slight change of personnel saw Chris Weitzel introduced on the left with James Woo preferred more central.
The start of the second half was much the same as the end of the first with the Buckden players evidently worried that a repeat of so many games was about to proceed, However the defensive duties of the team saw everyone tracking their men, winning tackles and not letting Bar Hill create an opportunity to score. This seemed to frustrate the away side and a moment of madness from the opposing CM saw a headbutt on Chris Dennis and a straight red card. This obviously helped Buckden although it did not stop the pressure from the away side and it remained a tight game for the next 20 minutes. A Bar Hill corner again and with the sore memory of the first goal it was apparent that every ball was going to be contested by the Buckden players. This saw a clash of heads from Jordan Mason and the commanding Bar Hill CB who had been outsanding all game with the latter coming off worse and unable to carry on. This was the moment where Jack Bramley and Milton Mendes started to dominate which saw Milton set up Jack for the third goal for Buckden. This settled the team and Buckden once again had the fluidity of the team that they are capable of being. Another sterling run from Jack evolved into an attempted through ball to Milton which was just cut out to see the opportunity squandered. Still pressing and creating chances Buckden always seemed to be the more likely to score and from a clearance by Josh Smith in his own half to Jack Bramley we witnessed pace and the completion of his hatrick after a mazy run from inside his own half (Josh is still trying to claim the assist… we’ll talk about it in the club). This was pretty much game over now and it was just a case of staying tight and seeing out the victory.
Well done lads… Same again next week!
