WITH Buckland Athletic now firmly in the business end of their Western League campaign, there has been a change to their forward line.

It is a case of one in and one out at The VX3 Stadium as manager Matt Cusack and co look to attack this final stretch.

Tricky winger Phil Mendonca has departed the club under a bit of a cloud, Cusack admitting to being “really disappointed” with the matter in which it went down.

Mendonca played his final game in the yellow of Buckland on Saturday, February 28, coming off the bench in a 0-0 home draw against Bridgwater United.

He has since played twice for his new side Sidmouth Town, assisting the second of Will Collins goals on debut as the Vikings won away at St Blazey AFC.

Whilst there isn’t so much an issue with the youngster leaving, his destination has raised a few eyebrows.

Cusack explained: “He was allowed to leave on certain conditions, one of those being that he wouldn’t join a playoff rival and he’s gone and done that.”

It’s not just A playoff rival that he’s joined but THE playoff rival; Buckland are ahead of Sidmouth by one point at the time of writing and both teams have four games to come.

The Bucks manager continued: “For us it’s about having the right players on the journey, if Phil deemed that this wasn’t the club for him then we have to move on quickly, which we have already.”

That they certainly have, making an astute acquisition in the form of Josiah McKayle from Oldland Abbotonians.

It took just seven minutes for McKayle to open his Buckland account, notching the opener in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Brislington FC. He then came off the bench in the midweek clash against Torpoint Athletic and looked very bright yet again.

The early-season injury to Jared Lewington has left Ryan Bush as the only senior striker in the squad, McKayle arriving as a great option alongside the league’s top scorer.

After the Torpoint draw, this is what Cusack had to say about the new signing.

“We’ve brought Josiah in and he’s hit the ground running, he had a fantastic debut on Saturday, scoring early on. We had Bushy back tonight who was unavailable for Saturday, so Josiah will be back in on Saturday.

“We’re pleased to have him in at the right time, strengthening us as we look to get into the playoffs.”

Tomorrow, Buckland will play host to Oldland at Homers Heath, presenting McKayle an opportunity to face his former side straight away.