Middlesex lost a highly enjoyable evening game under the floodlights of Ashford Town (Middlesex) FC, going down 4-2 at home to Buckinghamshire. Middlesex were the livelier side in the opening minutes with Louie Kenny seeing an early attempt on goal clear the crossbar before seeing another attempt hit the outside of the post. With Middlesex still looking the most likely to open the scoring, Buckinghamshire took the lead against the run of play on 8 minutes with their first real attack on the Middlesex goal. The strike was a superb effort from outside the Middlesex penalty area that curled into the top right-hand corner of the goal.
Having taken the lead, Buckinghamshire took the game to Middlesex and Buckinghamshire were unlucky not to extend their lead with Ethan Grubb in the Middlesex goal pulling off a string of fine saves. Buckinghamshire saw another effort on goal go inches past the post whilst another effort struck the underside of the crossbar but not cross the goal line.
Middlesex’s Drilon Krasniqi, who worked tirelessly throughout the match, saw his shot on target blocked but with Buckinghamshire still the dominant team they increased their lead on 27 minutes with another fine individual goal scored from outside the Middlesex penalty area. On 33 minutes Buckinghamshire scored their third from a Middlesex goal kick when the ball ran straight to to a Buckinghamshire striker who scored to the right of the goal.
Within 2 minutes Middlesex had reduced the arrears to 3-1 with Ray Lluka’s shot from well outside the Buckinghamshire penalty area taking a fortunate bounce with the ball going over the Buckinghamshire goalkeeper’s shoulder and into the net.
Buckinghamshire started the second half strongly and once again Grubb was on hand to stop Buckinghamshire extending their lead before Middlesex’s Dominic D’Souza saw his header from a Middlesex corner just clear the Buckinghamshire crossbar. Buckinghamshire scored their fourth goal on 49 minutes when Grubb once again saved a shot on goal but when the ball was not cleared it eventually fell to a Buckinghamshire player who volleyed home.
With 5 minutes remaining, Middlesex deservedly scored their second for a spirited second half performance through their captain Louie Kenny who scored with a well-placed shot from outside the Buckinghamshire penalty area.
