Bucks CC (29/04/2001)
2000 - 2001 Season, Hithercroft Under 14s



The weather was sunny but cold for this game but the pitch was in good condition. Rob Yandell ran the line for us this week and Jason Guy made a welcome return following his knee injury that he sustained seven weeks ago against Missenden Juniors.

After seven minutes of play Paul Yandell played a long free kick for Jason to run onto. His shot ricocheted off the advancing goalkeeper back to Jason who tapped the ball into the net to put Hithercroft one goal up. Jason added another goal following Jerome Warren's corner after 33 minutes when he headed the ball past a couple of defenders and just inside the post. However, four minutes later Andy Eels ran through the Hithercroft defense and put the ball past the diving goalie, Lee Hudson, to open the Bucks CC scoring.

Immediately after the restart Andy Eels again took the ball through the visitor’s defenders to score the equaliser. Three minutes later Gary Horwood put Bucks CC into the lead with a superbly struck shot from well outside the penalty area. This was then followed by Andy scoring again, this time with his head, from a cross by the Bucks CC number 10. Bucks CC continued to pile on the pressure but failed to capitalise on their scoring opportunities. Thirty minutes into this half Adeel Iqbal played a superb pass into the Bucks CC half for Jason to run onto and Jason scored, bringing the Hithercroft deficit back to one goal. This encouraged the visitors to pile on the pressure but to no avail. Just before the end of the game Andy Eels scored his fourth goal of the game, the final result being 5-3 to the home side.

Overall, Hithercroft did not play as a team and performed well below their usual standard. This may have been due to the fact that they had not played a match for over a month. Both teams missed goal-scoring opportunities but Bucks CC deserved the win. The ‘goal of the match’ for me was that by Gary Horwood and I was impressed by the Bucks CC number 2. To finish in fourth place we must win our next (final) match against Chesham.