Narrow Win For Development Side

Buckingham Athletic’s Development side travelled to Aston Clinton to take part in a final pre-season friendly before going into a competitive league campaign, with an opening day derby against Winslow. This game however was not the most eye-catching.

Both sides struggled to get control of the ball and play good football but ‘The Ath’ threatened early on with key chances, which should have been put away and seen Larry Woodward’s side take the lead. The goal did come however when a neat finish from Patch Hooper opened the scoring and gave the side a deserved lead going into the half, which was mostly uneventful after the Hooper goal.

The second half changed the game, as in the early stages the home side were able to create a few chances and that began to unsettle Buckingham, and within 5 minutes of the restart, Aston Clinton were level. The visitors were able to restore their lead though, as young midfielder Brad Thurgood showed real class to rifle an unstoppable effort into the roof of the net, cutting in from a wide angle. From then, the game fell flat and there was no threat from the hosts to get back into the game and Athletic were given the chance to put the game to bed when the bright spark of the night, Luke McAndrew, was brought down in the box to win a penalty. Luke Tavener stepped up but only found the keepers hands as the game finished 2-1.

Optimistic manager Larry Woodward had this to say, “Having played six games and used 25 players, this has been an interesting and useful pre-season.” The amount of players available to him is a huge positive as it will give them options throughout the season and will also give Woodward the ability to rest key players when a heavy run of games comes about. Woodward agreed on this, “results have been mixed but the most important thing is that we have competition for places going into our opening game against Winslow, which is always a good situation to be in.”

Man of the match on the night was Luke McAndrew as the enthusiastic full back gave a good, solid account of himself and was also able to get down the flank just like a modern full back. He also managed to earn his side a penalty and will have hoped he has bolstered his case for a starting spot come the opening game.

Larry Woodward is optimistic for the season ahead