Buckland Athletic v Street Saturday 28/12/13

[Dave]

Buckland Athletic v Street Saturday 28/12/13

Final Score Buckland 1 Street 3

Pre match views

Is this one of those must win games for Buckland? If you believe the rumours going around that Adam Castle could soon no longer be the Buckland manager, then the answer might be a big yes. I personally feel Buckland will still continue to back Adam Castle no matter what the result is today and so they should as most teams go on bad runs from time to time.

I spoke to one or two players the last time I was at the Heath and got the impression they were happy with the way Adam Castle went about doing his job. To some fans he might seem to lack or show and real emotion and passion, but I was told he has it and just shows it in a different way to former manager Anthony Lynch.

When Adam Castle was given the job, some said he did not have the contacts needed to bring in the sort of players Buckland would need to do well this season. That is utter rubbish as sadly its not all about who you know in this league, its often about how much you are willing to pay. Loyalty has become a dirty word I’m afraid, but that’s how it is the further you move up the football ladder.

That is not the case for all the players who play at this level, for some its about the pride of wearing the shirt and their love for the club. Some will not like paying under a certain manager, some will follow a manager they enjoy playing for when he moves on to a new club. Its nothing new and just the way it is, but being a manager is not an easy job and not one many of us could do.

I was once given an insight to the problems facing a Torquay United manager, I saw first hand how difficult it is when you have to try and keep 22 men full of testosterone happy. No player wants to be a bench warmer, but the manager has to pick the team he believes will go out and get the result for him. If that team wins then everyone is happy, if it loses then the team section, tactics and substitutions will come under scrutiny by the fans of the club.

Adam Castle showed his credentials last season, he is a good manager and more than capable of stepping up to manager a Western League side, I hope results will turn around soon for him and the club.

I have watched Buckland a number of times this season, while the team has never lacked effort and hard work; they have not seemed to me to click all together as they did last season. They have given away far too many sloppy goals and have often lacked that killer punch in front of goal. With the defensive payers Buckland has (or had) I have been surprised to witness some of those sloppy goals.

I have felt for a while that Buckland needs a big and strong centre forward, someone who can hold up the ball in the final third and bring other players into play. Someone not afraid to run into the box and take on that last man. It was two such types of players playing against Buckland in the last game I watched at the Heath that won the game and the prize money for their team Saltash. The same two players also played their part in a home game I watched at Saltash last month.

Buckland are a great club and has done so well to progress from their humble beginnings, stepping up to the Western League was never going to be easy and credit has to be given to the club for trying to move up the football ladder. They need their supporters to stand by the club and help them during this very poor run. At Buckland it’s still all about the most important thing and that is the game of football. The costs to the club playing in this league are far higher, they knew that before they made the step up, but that never stopped them and I take my hat of to Buckland for trying to move forward.

You will not find a more friendlier welcoming club anywhere else and the club in my opinion should be much better supported than it is by the Newton Abbot lovers of football.

On another note I have been saddened to see Danny Gaze recently leave the club and sign for Stoke Gabriel. Danny is a class player who has frilled the Buckland fans with his attacking play and he will be sorely missed. I do not think he has looked as happy playing this season as he did last season, why that might be the case I have no idea.

Stoke are also a very good club with a great set of players and I’m sure Danny will fit in there well; I will go and watch a Stoke game soon to see how he is doing.

Street are a good side and will come to the Heath expecting to win the game, lets hope Buckland can find some form and send them Street players home with their tails between their legs.


COYY

Match Report

Firstly a big well done to the Buckland ground staff who worked so hard to get today’s game on. Last week you might have thought you had taken a wrong turning (if you had gone to the ground) and ended up at Decoy Lake rather than Homers Heath.

Hard to fault any of the Buckland players today, they gave everything they had and had to do that with only ten men so very early in the game. Adam Castle can not be blamed if players get themselves sent off when the game is less than ten minutes old, nor can he do very much when is side give another two soft goals away.

Before I talk about the match I do want to say a few words about today’s referee. At one point he walked over to Adam Castle and told him if he kept making his job hard, then he would send Adam Castle to the stands. Sorry ref but you made the job very hard for yourself, far to quick to make decisions that needed just a bit more time and so many poor decisions that made you look a fool at times. How can a referee book a player who is on the floor by the touchline for hand ball and then only award a throw-In?

The first five minutes of the match were rather scrappy with no side really being able to get the ball down and play any decent football. The first chance fell to Buckland when Jamie Micklewright took a shot from just outside the box that went wide of the left hand post.

Then right in front of the dugouts Buckland’s Marc Revell got himself sent off. It was his first tackle of the match and might have looked and sounded worse than it was. There was a loud cracking sound and the Street player made so much noise as he hit the deck. I’m sure before he even landed the ref had whipped out the red card faster than Paul Daniels has ever pulled a rabbit from a hat. The referee really should have given himself some time to decide what action he was going to take, but he didn’t and from that point on it was an uphill struggle for the Buckland players.

The strange thing was I thought Buckland were the better side in the first half and created the best chances, but they made things even harder for themselves when they gave away a very soft goal indeed. Alex Jannin outside the box sliced his attempted clearance high up in the air and the ball dropped just back inside the left hand side of the Buckland box. Facing his own goal Liam Drew tired to chest the ball back to his keeper Tom Buckles but the gap between then was just too great. Streets number eleven Harry Magee ran in between defender and goalkeeper and took the ball around Tom and fired the ball home into the empty net.

Buckland came so very close to going in at half time all square, but it was not to be. Jordan Havlin burst a gut to get from the halfway line to the edge of the Street box, the ball was played to him and he burst into the box but just as he was about to take his shot he got nudged and was off balance when he struck the ball goal ward. The ball looked like it was going to go in just inside the left hand post, but somehow went the wrong side of the post.

Simon Revell really worked his socks off all match and came close to scoring from a free kick taken just outside the box, but Natham Whatley in goal got down well to push the ball around the post.


The ref blew up for halftime and Buckland started the second half the much better team. Jordan Havlin had no right to beat the two men he did as he ran into the box from the left hand side, he played a perfect low ball across the six yard line that just needed a touch from Jamie Micklewright to get Buckland back in the game, but sadly for Buckland Jamie was just a fraction to far away from the ball.

Then Buckland did get back on level terms and I was so pleased that Jordan Havlin scored the goal. The ball was played from the right hand side and headed forward towards Jordan by Simon Revell. He had his back to goal but made a neat turn hitting the ball so sweetly and powerfully it gave the Street keeper no chance as the ball hit the back of the net.

At this stage of the match I really felt Buckland might well go and win, well that was until Cameron Killy brought down Streets number nine Mark Salter just inside the box. Cameron might have done better staying on his feet and trying to edge Mark Salter away from the goal, but he decided to try and tackle him from slightly behind and got it wrong. Mark Salter took the spot kick and diving to his left Tom Buckler came so very close to making a save.

Buckland did not give up but as they pressed forward looking for their second goal, they left loads of space in behind them and out wide on their left. One good ball out to that left hand side was picked up by Streets Harry Magee and he raced into the Buckland box unchallenged to fire an unstoppable shot past Tom Buckler.

Still Buckland pressed forward and came so close on a number of occasions, but luck was not on their side. I do not think Buckland deserved to be beaten by three goals to one today, yes that was the final score, but for guts, hard work and never giving up, they deserved more.

I left the ground feeling proud of the Buckland boys and sorry also for Adam Castle who could not have got any more from his players than he did today. This poor run will end very soon, things will turn around of that I’m very sure.

[chelsea66]

I have to say Dave your account of the sending off is way different to how I saw it! I personally thought the referee correctly identified the challenge as worthy of a red card, and, especially due to the close proximity of the incident to the technical areas, he very quickly produced the card and was extremely vocal stating it was red and also why it was red so nobody was in any doubt as to what was going on.

All about opinions though Dave, good stuff.

[Dave]

Dec 28, 2013 22:39:42 GMT chelsea66 said:

I have to say Dave your account of the sending off is way different to how I saw it! I personally thought the referee correctly identified the challenge as worthy of a red card, and, especially due to the close proximity of the incident to the technical areas, he very quickly produced the card and was extremely vocal stating it was red and also why it was red so nobody was in any doubt as to what was going on.

All about opinions though Dave, good stuff.

Hi chelsea66 I said in my match report that the tackle might have looked and sounded worse than it was. While I was only 30 feet away from the incident, due to where I was standing I did not get a clear view of the tackle. There was one Street player close to the touchline right in front of me and there was someone from the Street bench standing outside the dugout.

I was close enough to hear Adam Castle say to the referee that he should have given himself more time to decide what action to take; I do think that was a valid point. In saying that the referee was well placed as where all the people in the dugout. I would imagine from the other side of the pitch the tackle looked a bad one, but these things happen so fast and we only get the one look at them.

In the second half there looked like a similar tackle was made on Simon Revell who did not go down in a heap, the referee saw nothing wrong with that tackle and waved play on. Near the end of the game Cameron Killy made what looked a very good tackle clearly wining the ball just outside the Buckland box. The referee was the only one who saw that tackle as a foul and bad enough to book Cameron. Simon Revill was also booked for either saying to much to the ref or not moving away fast enough.

No one wants to see leg braking tackles in football, even more so at the level Buckland play as most of the players will have fulltime jobs, so I’m not saying the referee got it wrong. To be honest I’m rather disappointed with Marc Revill making such a challenge and so early in the game as well. Buckland badly needed a win yesterday to end what is a very poor run by their standards.

If the sending off had not happened, if another two soft goals were not given away, then the result may well have been a different one. But they did and dispite all the hard work and effort put in by the Buckland players, the facts remain they ended up shooting themselves in the foot again.

Times have changed at the Heath, the days when Buckland were nearly unbeatable have gone, but Buckland had become the big fish in the small pond and for the long term good of the club needed to move up the football ladder. The Western League is a much tougher one and players not good enough will get found out. The costs to the club are much higher and results are going to be harder to come by.

I have read this morning elsewhere post suggesting some players are looking or have moved on from the club. while I do not know if that is the truth or not, I do think far to many people want to try and knock Buckland at every opportunity and I find that rather sad.

It is no real surprise that some posting not using their own names are calling for Adam Castles head, suggesting the move up to the first team managers job is too big for him. I find that utter rubbish and personally feel he is a good manager and one who will turn results around as long as he is given the chance to do so.

I have been following football long enough to know any manager can be a hero one day and a villain the next one, football is all about results and when they do not come the buck always seems to stop with the manager. Win a few games and it’s all forgotten, football fans are a very fickle bunch at times.

All I know watching yesterdays game was the players gave everything and Adam Castle could do nothing about the events that happened out of the pitch. The current Buckland side might not be good enough to end up as the league champions, but the club are only just finding their feet in the Western League and need time to adjust to the higher standards.

Last season was their first in the Western League and they did better than most expected, so far this season has not gone so well, but there is still plenty of it left to turn results around. The players, who are wearing the Buckland shirt with pride, clearly have the fight and passion to soon end this poor run. I left the ground yesterday disappointed with the result, but proud of the players who gave everything they had.

Despite Streets much higher placing in the table, Buckland looked the better side even with ten men, they need to shore up the back a bit better and could do with a striker who can hold up the play to bring others in and one not afraid to take on the last man and head for goal. There are a good number of good players at the club, one or two new faces and some fine tweaking is all that is needed.

Well that’s my opinion and one that may well be different from others, its one I’m not saying is right or wrong for that matter, but the good thing about football is we all can have our own opinions.