YESTERDAY’s Western League clash between Buckland Athletic and Wellington AFC at Homers Heath was far from a classic.

Whether it was the sweltering heat or the knocks picked up by players on both teams, the game kept stopping and starting and a rhythm was nowhere to be seen.

That being said, Bucks boss Matt Cusack was still able to take the positives from the afternoon in the Newton Abbot sunshine.

Speaking to the Mid-Devon Advertiser, he said: “We managed to thwart the several attacks that they [Wellington] had late on to keep the clean sheet so we’re delighted with that, we’ve not had one yet including in pre-season.

“It’s a good foundation to build on when you’re perhaps not playing at your best and you’re still picking up three points and the clean sheet, so delighted with that overall.”

In Cusack’s words, the side from Somerset “really kicked into gear and laid siege on our goal” in the late stages of the game.

There were Buckland bodies on the line to deny one golden opportunity for an equaliser before goalkeeper Jordan Duffey came up with a couple of superb stops of his own.

It proved to be too little, too late from Wellington though having offered next to nothing in the first half. In fairness, there was little to shout about from either side, a well-guided Ryan Bush header forcing a great save out of Charlie Hawkings, the only highlight.

Cusack labelled it as “A really dogged performance against a dogged Wellington team.”

He added, “They always make life difficult, they always have at this level and so we knew what we were going to be up against. I felt like territorially, we were dominant in the first but we didn’t create enough opportunities on goal. Our quality in the final third was below standard and we let the players know that at half-time.”

Whatever Cusack and co had to say to the Buckland players clearly paid dividends as they found the opener within 90 seconds of play resuming. It was a powerful, low-driven effort from Bush that broke the deadlock but just as much credit should go to the move prior.

The Yellows “Took the lead through a goal from the training ground so I’ve got to credit Shane Reavey, one of our first team coaches, who came up with the routine.”

Phil Mendonca, playing against his former club, stepped over Luke Forward’s corner and allowed Bush to move onto the ball and hit it home underneath Hawkings’ body.

Bush replacing Jared Lewington in the starting XI was one of five changes made by Cusack at the start of “a really busy week.”

He said, “It was an opportunity for us to utilise the whole squad. We believe in them all and have said from day dot that if we’re going to reach our goals, we’ll need to use every single player.”

Lewington was only at Homers Heath as a spectator though as “he felt a little tweak in training” and will be sidelined for “maybe five to ten days.”

Sammy Stayt was also in attendance, on crutches and he “was due to have a scan this week but unfortunately it got postponed, believe it or not, apparently the machine stopped working”, Cusack joking that “maybe we need to pay a bit more in tax.”

That scan is rescheduled for the week ahead and everyone at Buckland is “hopeful it’s nothing too sinister.”

By no means is it all doom and gloom though with Cusack’s men having won all four of their games to date- they are one of only three sides in the Western League with the maximum nine points available to their name.

As previously alluded to, Buckland are in the thick of it already with a visit to Street FC coming up on Tuesday, August 12 and then an FA Cup clash on the weekend away at Southern League side Exmouth Town.