Buckden entered this game buoyant after a solid run of form and the previous week’s thrashing of St Ives. The facilities and pitch were awful and this proved to be a key feature of the game, along with the diabolical referee!
After the initial banter regarding large shorts, late night drinking and expanding waistlines, Buckden warmed up, and with the inspirational management team talk still ringing in their ears, prepared themselves for the fight.
From the off, the home side were aggressive and resilient. McDonald matched their tenacity and battled hard in the midfield. Not all of his colleagues matched his spirit and Buckden slogged through the first 20 minutes, ensuring that they did the complete opposite of pre match management wishes.
Dom ‘I could not hit a cows arse with a banjo’ smith tried to break down the defence and should have opened the scoring, again………………………
The referee decided to award Buckden a penalty after a blatant foul on McDonald and he was rewarded by scoring from the spot. Buckden should have gone on to score 3 or 4 more in the first half but failed to do so, something that would cost them.
The second half started as the first, with the home team dogged in their efforts. The home team pressed further and were rewarded with a spot kick, which they duly converted.
The second half substitutions of Costa, Neymar and Messi proved to be the turning point with the trio turning the game on its head. This was not helped by the indecisive and blind referee refusing to listen to the aggressive, and outspoken linesman, Fennel.
Even with the introduction of the enthusiastic livewire Smith and the ‘trainer clad’ Love could not transform fortunes and a further goal put the game out of reach for the visitors.
The final miserable act of the afternoon soon followed with the sending off of the away assistant manager, wrongly accused of aggressive encouragement towards the officials. An overturned decision will surely be recognised by the FA.
Solid displays by Dennis, Underwood and McDonald were positives of an otherwise poor performance.
Buckden still have games in hand and are still in pole position for automatic promotion but only if they have their shooting boots on, and more large shorts that don’t cut off blood circulation are purchased!
