Rangers travelled to Homers Heath on Saturday to take on Buckland Athletic in the FA vase 2nd Round .
Unfortunately we couldn’t emulate our 1st Round success against higher league opposition, suffering a 5-1 defeat but the scoreline doesn’t tell the the whole story of the 90mins .
Starting the game without top scorer Joe Wilkinson who was still suspended the team suffered a further blow before kick off when Adam Langabeer aggravated a back injury in the warm up and was unable to take his place in the side with Ben Scott came into the starting line up in his place . The first half started predictably with Buckland having the lions share of possession but the lads defended well and gradually settled into the game . We then suffered another setback after 20 mins when Jack Bryant suffered a head injury and had to leave the field being replaced by Aiden Horne . This didn’t affect the team and 5 minutes later we were in front . Winning the ball back in our left back position Jack Lewis picked out Ben Scott’s run from midfield . Ben still with work to do produced a fine finish, lobbing the Buckland keeper to put us 1-0 ahead . We were now on the front foot and created two more great chances before half time with Conor Bryant and Joe Wylie both being denied by last ditch blocks and Aiden Horne also going close to adding to our lead .
Half time came with Cully 1-0 up with all to play for in the 2nd half . Unfortunately it turned out to be the classic game of 2 halves !!. Buckland changed their formation at half time and came out a different team and although the half time team talk was to keep things tight and not to concede early Buckland equalised 5 minutes into the second half . This really lifted the home team and had the opposite effect on our lads and it was no surprise when Buckland when 2-1 up after 60mins followed by a 3rd 5 mins later . Buckland were really dominating at this stage and with our lads tiring scored 2 more in the last 10 mins to come out deserved 5-1 winners.
Manager Paul Pocock said after the game “ Things may have been different if we could have taken 1 or 2 of the chances we created just before half time but in all honesty we were blown away by Buckland’s second half performance . I cant fault the lads for their effort but Buckland were just too strong and powerful for us in the second half .”
Thank you to Buckland for their hospitality and we wish you all the best in the next round and for the rest of the season .
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