The weather was ideal for football and Moulton attacked from the off.
In the first minute we saw the incident that changed the game. Kim and Wiki combined to play the ball forward, Morgan was on to it like a shot from a gun and touched the ball past the onrushing keeper who was out of her area (just). The keeper then scythed down Morgan who was injured by the late tackle. A clear cut sending off denying a clear goalscoring opportunity. But oh no, the referee bottled it and booked the keeper but no red card. Scant justice for the keeper's actions. This was the first in a series of contentious decisions from the referee. Needless to say, the freekick came to nothing. Moulton continued to press and looked the better team in the early stages and they had 3 chances with only the keeper to beat but none were scored. Passing from both teams was wayward. A ball over the defence found Sophie T on the charge, she cut in but hit her shot high over the crossbar.
12minutes had elapsed when Bugbrooke had their second attack of the match. There looked little danger with one attacker against 3 defenders, however the pace of the attacker took her away from Moulton's defenders and from the left of goal a good firm shot was hit into the far corner for 1-0 Bugbrooke. The confidence of the Bugbrooke players went up as a result of the goal and a series of corners were won but came to nothing.
Moulton had a breakaway on 20 minutes but a weak shot saw the move fizzle out. After 23 minutes Bugbrooke started to play some good passing football and another attack saw a shot from 25 yards whistle just past the post of Moulton's goal. Again they broke and two players combined to see number 20 hit a firm shot but Harriet in the Moulton goal made a good diving stop. Soon after Bugbrooke's 14 had a run and shot but again Harriet made the save. Moulton seemed incapable of stringing passes together and were relying on boots forward to feed the speedy Morgan. Half Time 1-0 to Bugbrooke.
Start of the 2nd half saw Bugbrooke 14 attack and have 2 chances both saved by Harriet. They attacked again and their 10, who had come on as a sub, had a great chance from about 15 yards but she hurriedly shot past the post. Bugbrooke were well in the assendency at this point and a cross from the left found a striker who turned and hit past the Moulton post. After 54 minutes Bugbrooke won a corner on the left and a hard, high inswinger came over on the goal line. The ball appeared to hit Mouton players and the bar and with Bugbrooke players also involved the ball ended up in the goal for 2-0 Bugbrooke. Play was dekayed while the Moulton players were treated for their knocks. Soon after a speculative shot was hit from 35 yards and the ball cleared the keeper and into the net for 3-0 Bugbrooke. 57 minutes had gone when another attack saw a shot come in which Harriet managed to save at the expense of a corner. Moulton did put a decent passing move together and the ball found Steph who shot over the bar. On 66 minutes a Moulton through ball was chased by Morgan but the ball was cleared by the onrushing keeper, the ball went straight up the other end where a delicate lob was put in but the ball bounced off the crossbar and was cleared. A fast break down their left by Bugbrooke saw a shot come in that Harriet saved but couldn't hold and number 10 hit into the empty goal for 4-0. The match was over as a contest but Bugbrooke still had time to go 'nap' with their 5th goal.
There was a bit of a problem in the Moulton dugout and a coach appeared to be either cautioned or sent off for dissent, this closely followed a sin binning for Morgan also for dissent. Only the team Captain should address the referee but some of his decisions were quite incredulous.
No excuses, in the 2nd half Bugbrooke were the team attempting to play football and deserved their win. Moulton cannot play this badly again, it appeared that all the players had bad days on the same day. Harriet made some good saves, Hayley worked hard for the team and Cally again was solid . It speaks volumes when two of the star players for Moulton were Jess and Hannah who only came on as substitutes. Hannah's workrate was good and Jess showed composure and managed to hold the ball up to gain time and space.
On to next week when we host Newport Pagnell Development Team who are also quality.