Buckland Claim Womens Supplementary Cup
Budleigh Salterton Ladies v Buckland Athletic Ladies 2nds
This was a much anticipated final as it was due to be the second county cup final of the season but was postponed thirty minutes before the kick off back in March due to the pitch being flooded with both teams and their supporters in the ground awaiting the kick off so just over two months later they all were back to try again. Budleigh had the first chance when in the third minute they broke into the Buckland penalty area Katy Harkness hit a speculative shot which Buckland keeper Emma Ayres saved and held onto.
Two minutes later Buckland scored the opening goal when a long through ball was played towards striker Chloe Driscoll who controlled the bouncing ball and hit a superb strike past Kath Binmore who had little chance of keeping it out.
On the 10th minute Budleigh had a chance to equalise when they had an effort on target, but Ayres saved comfortably. On the quarter hour mark Buckland had another chance which caused a big scramble which was finally cleared to give Buckland a corner kick which unfortunately for them came to nothing.
Budleigh had a chance in the 25th minute when forward Amy Salter shot low and hard but the ball went just wide but the build-up for Budleigh was good and led well by captain Sara Dunn who had got married between the first game being postponed and this game. The match had eased into a comfortable challenge between the two opposing midfields but in the 38th minute Budleigh forced a couple of corner kicks which finally saw Ebony Lacey head just over the bar.
In the last minute of normal time Buckland thought they had doubled their lead when Driscoll won the ball and finished the move with a low shot only for the referee to overrule it judging that Driscoll had pushed the Budleigh defender in the back. The fourth official showed there would be a minimum of three added minutes in which Buckland won another corner of which came to nothing seeing Buckland go into the break leading one goal to nil.
The second half began with Buckland carrying on where they left off and Driscoll had another chance but scuffed the shot, but she got her just deserts on fifty-four minutes when she broke through the Budleigh defence with a clever dribble and she cleverly switched the ball from her left foot to her right before calmly tucking the ball home giving Buckland a two-goal lead. Budleigh didn’t let their heads drop and didn’t give in and they forced a corner which was just cleared they had another chance when the ball was played straight back into the Buckland area where substitute keeper Laura Maguire saved well the swopping of the Buckland keepers at hf time was a pre-arranged plan with bot keepers could be the first choice with nothing separating the two of them.
In the 70th minute Buckland’s captain Sarah Suddy had a chance which Budleigh’s Kalie Horner clears down field where its picked up by Kathryn Parsley who goes down the right wing and crosses the ball to Amy Salter and hits a low shot pass Maguire to make it two one with eighteen minutes to go.
In the 84th minute Binmore pulled off a great save from a Katie Sayer shot keeping Budleigh in the game and she gets some luck when Buckland’s Driscoll hits the bar with a snap shot two minutes later. With full time approaching in Budleigh win a free kick about forty yards out which Salter took ad hit a cracking shot which Maguire saved well low down to her left there would be four minutes of added time and in the last minute of these Budleigh had their last chance when Maguire saved again and the ref blew the final whistle making Buckland the Graddon Vending Devon Women’s Supplementary Cup winners.
This was the final Devon FA county cup final of this season and it turned out to be a fine advert of women s football at the presentation that followed Budleigh’s Katie Horner was awarded the Player of the Match by the sponsor.