Buckland Athletic left to rue missed chances by clinical Bridgy

CLINICAL was the word of the day in Buckland Athletic’s latest Western League outing at The VX3 Stadium with one side failing to get on the scoreboard and the other putting away their chances with notable precision.

It was the Bucks who looked the brighter team in the first half, Ryan Bush failing to convert a couple of golden opportunities plus Fin Herbert and Jack Baxter went close.

One chance in particular saw Bush striding through, one-on-one with the keeper and the Homers Heath faithful were just waiting for the net to bulge, but it wasn’t to be.

At the other end, Bridgwater sent a couple of warning shots across the bow before then taking the lead from the penalty spot.

Sammy Stayt, who featured at right-back in the absence of Rafa Beadman, mistimed his challenge and Mike Searle could only push Shea Mannings’ attempt from 12 yards further into the corner.

Not for the first time this season, Buckland have been somewhat wasteful in front of goal, which manager Matt Cusack highlighted.

“In the big games, you’ve got to take your opportunities when you’re on top and we didn’t do that, we need to learn from that.”

He added, “I thought we played well in the first half” and then for his side, “It was basically rinse and repeat” after the interval.

Within the first minute of the restart, Bridgy struck again after a poor kick from Searle but the goalkeeper’s blushes were saved by a late offside flag.

The visitors did eventually double their lead but it wasn’t without controversy. In the battle of the fullbacks, Dave Thorne clattered Danny Frankum and the home crowd were up in arms as the ref allowed play to continue.

Bridgy played to the whistle and Will Collins fired home in his usual clinical nature.

Two became three when Collins unselfishly put it on a plate for substitute Douglas Camilo to tap home.

The afternoon went from bad to worse for Buckland as Isaac McCue was shown a straight red following a scuffle for which he was responsible.

With Buckland going in search of a reply and of course being a man light, the Robins had plenty of space to drive forward and George Russell (who replaced a hobbling Charlie Madden) scythed down Collins for a second penalty of the day.

Collins got back to his feet and sent Searle the wrong way to put the icing on the Bridgwater cake.

Buckland “never seemed to get going” in the second half, said Cusack.

He continued, “Despite numerous balls going into the box, we were always waiting for it to fall for us instead of being proactive and trying to get onto the end of things.”

Cusack also noted that he felt as if the rub of the green went against his side: “It’s disappointing, when the opposition’s manager is saying to us that it’s never a penalty, it probably isn’t on reflection.”

Where the Yellows were lacking, their guests were thriving and this ice-cold performance from Bridgwater tells you exactly why they’re the new leaders of the division.

“They’re an efficient team, they’ve got a threat in their frontline and they’re methodical. They’re a team of men and it shows, very street wise”, noted Cusack, also commenting: “I do think they were given a little helping hand but the less said about that the better.”

As previously mentioned, Stayt was forced to play out of position with a few key players missing due to a variety of reasons. Amongst the absentees were Beadman, captain Ben Carter, Jamie Simmonds and it’s also worth noting that the returning Myles James will feature when the Bucks next play.

“It’s a setback, we’ve come into the game today missing key players and I won’t hide from that.

“We should have everyone available when we resume in 10 days, I think we’ll be at the point then where we’ll have everyone available, be able to pick a squad from everyone and really drive the competition for places that we haven’t been able to do yet.”

Two notable inclusions in the XI were Fin Herbert and Jordan McCarthy, making their home debuts for the club.

“I thought [Fin] was neat and tidy, looked a threat in the offensive third and his running beyond the last line was really good, he was a bright spark on the day,” said Cusack, whilst labelling McCarthy as “a combative defender” before adding: “He hasn’t played loads of football in the past nine or 10 months so we’re getting him up to speed.”

As alluded to already, Buckland are without a game in the week ahead so they will be back on the training ground ahead of a visit to a struggling Wellington AFC side on Wednesday, September 9, needing to “lick the wounds and go again.”