The first match against Oaks saw us start slowly, conceding an early goal and then struggling to do more than keep level. This was slightly frustrating, as we felt like we had a playing advantage but simply couldn’t turn it into sustained attacks and goals. Half-time saw both teams with an embarrassingly low score, and we needed to up the pace a lot in the second half; as part of this we brought Mandy on, and told James Sloan to remember that he wasn’t playing for the firsts now, and actually had to make an effort ;-) The rest of the game was much better, with Sam in particular finding her shooting range, and Charlene being very unlucky with a couple of shots. Adam dominated his boy in collect as always, whilst Vicky seemed to grow in confidence during her first full competitive game with Bucks. As a result, we emerged with a convincing 16-5 victory, most of which was achieved in the final 25 minutes of the match.

Next up was Roos, who looked to be rather stronger than expected – pretty much the MK City line-up from last year! The game was hard fought from the start – in more ways than one, as Oaks were refereeing and (whilst it’s definitely credit to them for stepping up to cover) the limited number of penalties and free passes being called probably didn’t suit our game. We traded goals fairly evenly, but actually went 5-6 down mid-way through the second half, and you could sense some nervousness within the team. Bucks’ strength at this level is our ability to sub up, and we therefore brought Caz on with ten minutes to play, who responded by scoring a nice under-the-post goal. Adam wrapped it all up with shortly afterwards, and a strong finish saw us come out with a 9-6 victory. Not our best match, and certainly not pretty korfball, but a good determination to win – and plenty more goals from Sam!

We now sit top of the league, although Rogues are just 4 points behind with a game in hand (and a better goal difference). Our matches against them on 12 Feb and 18 Mar look like they might well be the league deciders, depending on how strong Hatters prove to be when we finally play them