Leighton Buzzard Men’s 1st Team – Abingdon Men’s 1st Team

Leighton went into the game looking to extend their unbeaten record and maintain the gap between them and the relegation dogfight. Buzzard started brightly, pushing Abingdon back into their own half. Some slick passing bought about numerous chances, but Buzzard found the visiting goalkeeper in exceptional form. Following a well worked penalty corner, Buzzard forced a penalty flick. Up stepped Nick Marshall who put it low to the keeper's right - only to find the keeper had pushed it around the post. So going into half time, Buzzard remained positive as they knew some of the hockey they were playing was of the highest quality; however they also knew they should have been out of sight.

The start of the second half was a different matter, with Abingdon taking control and forcing Buzzard back into their own D. Following a series of deflections off defenders' sticks Abingdon opened the scoring. For a while Buzzard's heads dropped and they went further behind following an exquisite finish from the Abingdon forward. At 2-0 down, most team would have thrown in the towel; however Buzzard started one of this season's familiar comebacks. They finally settled and started to play as they had done in the first half with some fine tackling and distribution from Man of the Match Dan Edwards, amongst others.

Buzzard forced a series of penalty corners, from which David Fry converted a well worked routine to make it 2-1. Buzzard were now all over the opposition, seeking an equaliser; however they still had to be switched on to Abingdon's counter attacks. Unfortunately Buzzard's flow was disrupted by a break in play with ten minutes remaining, due to an injury to centre back, Tim Bellamy. Whilst he was getting treatment, Abingdon took the time to reorganise and get their breath back; however Buzzard were not going to be stopped in their pursuit of an equaliser. Buzzard upped their intensity and Tommy Lakins ran at their defence resulting in yet another penalty corner. Having gone through their entire routines Buzzard tried something different, resulting in Jack Gorton finishing with aplomb. With the final whistle going soon after, Buzzard had rescued yet another point and extended their unbeaten run to five games going into their away trip to league leaders, West Hampstead, next week.