Buckden's excellent winning run came to an end in Over on Saturday, as they came off second best in a tight match that could easily have gone either way. There were three changes to the Buckden line-up from their last game at March, with Craig coming in for Olly in goal, Milton Mendes in for James Wou and the fit again Josh Smith replacing the unavailable Luke Fennell.
It was always likely to be a close match between two sides with good league records this season, and the first half certainly reflected that. Buckden started at marginally the higher tempo, looking to press high up the field and move the ball at pace. Although they sometimes suffered from a lack of precision, they did create the first chance of the match, the Over keeping saving superbly low to his right after Jack Bramley's snapshot from 15 yards.
As the half progressed, Over began to dominate the midfield thanks to having an extra man in there and Buckden were increasingly reduced to occasional forays down the right-hand side led by Chris Weitzel and full back Ryan Brown. However, the wide players' crossing let them down a little bit, and at the other end the Buckden keeper was forced into a good save to his left to keep the score at 0 - 0. His good work was undone just before half time though, as Adam 'Sledgehammer' Westbury did his best Stevie Gerrard impression and had a little sit down on the halfway line. An Over forward seized on the mistake, breaking into the box before finishing across Craig to make it 1 - 0.
Buckden began the second half with much more conviction in their play, aided by the introduction of the excellent Jonny Love and the quicksilver feet of James Woo on the wing. Within ten minutes of the restart, Buckden were level. Love looked up 35 yards out and arrowed a pass in behind the opposition right back with the outside of his left peg for the onrushing Dom Smith to lift the ball calmly over the advancing goalkeeper (no flukes were involved in the making of this goal).
The away team proceeded to control most of the second half, creating a string of good chances, all of which were spurned. Dom twice failed to hit the target after showing good skill to cut inside on his stronger right foot, and had a back post header saved by the keeper. Jack Bramley used his pace to get behind the opposition defence before forcing the keeper to save from a narrow angle when a cut back to the open Josh Smith might have been a better option. With fifteen or so minutes left, Woo produced another excellent save from the home keeper following a sweeping team move which left him as the extra man over on the right hand side. Buckden's frustration was further magnified by a succession of poor set piece deliveries, and it always seemed likely that they would be made to pay for such profligacy.
Towards the end of the match, Over looked increasingly dangerous on the break as Buckden chased a winner, but Chris Dennis was putting in a commanding performance, reading the game early and covering the ground quickly to snuff out danger. But in the last minute, the pacy Over striker managed to get between the Buckden centre halves and, rather than shooting, went down under the lightest of challenges from Westbury. The referee, under pressure from the vociferous home crowd, pointed to the spot. The Buckden keeper dived the right way, but couldn't quite keep it out, and seconds later, the full time whistle was blown. It was a disappointing result for Buckden who had enough chances to win the game twice and now realistically stand little chance of promotion this season. Nonetheless, they'll be looking to finish strongly with two home games to come.
