Buckland lack clinical edge in latest defeat

BUCKLAND Athletic squandered some “cracking opportunities” on their way to defeat against Tavistock AFC on Wednesday, September 30, something which has been a growing theme this season.

Hosting a new-look Tavistock side who lost manager Steve Tully and several key players in the weeks prior to the match presented a real opportunity for the Bucks to prevail. Instead, they have now lost three league games on the spin.

They made a familiarly bright start at The VX3 Stadium and the home support were up in arms in the opening minutes when Ryan Bush was seemingly dragged down by the last man.

He got straight back to his feet though and moments after, laid the ball off for Sammy Stayt, who, in turn, swept a perfect ball in behind for Fin Herbert to latch onto. The youngster kept his composure and picked out the bottom corner to open his account for the club with 10 minutes on the clock.

Next it was Bush’s turn to be played in and Buckland were quickly brought down from the high of scoring when an innocuous challenge between goalkeeper Dan Holman and their star striker left the latter in considerable pain, pounding the turf.

He was helped off of the field and taken to hospital, the club confirming today (Oct 1) that it is a fractured humerus and “recovery is expected to be relatively routine.”

It went from bad to worse for the Yellows as, after one dangerous chance for Tavistock was cleared off of the line by Myles James, an almost identical move followed with Iestyn Harris crossing in for Ryan Smith to equalise against his former club.

The rain started to settle and so did the game with a good 20 minutes passing by without anything of real note, the final chance of the half seeing Stayt roll one just wide.

Both sides started to get a little hot under the collar after the break which was only made worse by the referee’s indecisive approach.

Set-piece after set-piece entered the Lambs box but they were always met by a grey shirt as Buckland continued to waste a whole host of opportunities.

Josiah McKayle, who had replaced Bush earlier in the evening, and second-half substitute Toby Pullman both threatened Holman’s goal as the Bucks went in search of a winner.

They were susceptible to being caught out on the break though and it took a swift intervention from Mike Searle to deny the advancing Jacob Bowker and keep it at one apiece.

The hammer blow did then eventually come when Jordan Pearce unfortunately headed a Tavistock corner into his own net late on.

Buckland then had to scramble to rescue a point and they were given a boost when experienced defender Dave Rowe earned himself a place in the sin-bin for the opponents.

Pullman went down wanting a penalty to no avail before McKayle was on hand to convert a Jamie Simmonds cross right at the death, only for the linesman to controversially raise his flag, eliminating the final glimmer of Buckland hope.

McKayle and co are “adamant” that there was no offside with manager Matt Cusack commenting: “For me, if the officials did get that one wrong, that typified their performance as well, I was really disappointed.

I thought the ref made a rod for his own back on several occasions, there were some strange decisions made but I’m not blaming them for our outcome because we have to do better and look at ourselves.”

He labelled Pearce as “outstanding” and felt that “his performance didn’t warrant that own goal.”

Meanwhile, Cusack gave a pretty damning review of his side at the other end of the pitch.

“I’m really frustrated with the players in the attacking line. They have to do better in the big games and they’ve got to start coming to the party if they want to survive here and that’s the reality.

“We can’t keep going into these big games and missing these big chances. It’s happening too much and it’s my job to find the solution and to help them, I will help them first and foremost but if they don’t respond then I’ll have to look elsewhere because I’ve been brought here to do a job and I’m determined to do it.”

Cusack was impressed with how the Lambs “ran their hearts out for their new manager” before concluding: “If we want to be a top team in this division then we’ve got to start taking our chances.”

Buckland don’t have long to lick their wounds as they return to action at Homers Heath on Saturday, October 3, when they host a resolute Liskeard Athletic side before then visiting Torpoint Athletic at The Mill in midweek (Tues 6).