Buckland Athletic 1-1 Exeter City (4-5 on penalties)BUCKLAND Athletic’s brave fight against Exeter City fell just short of knocking the professional side out of the Devon St Luke’s Bowl quarter-final, in front of 164 freezing fans last night (Feb 13), writes Josh Goodman.

The Western League Premier Division side started brightly on their home turf at Homers Heath. Early pressure piled on the youthful Exeter defence. The Bucks littered passes forward to no avail.

Neither side clicked in the first half. Stray through balls trickled to the goalkeeper at both ends while the pitch became progressively ropey and the players carefully felt out their opponents.

Charlie Lawrence shone for the visitors as he worked the ball well across the field. His pace and skill was a lot to handle for the experienced Athletic defenders, who looked fatigued by the onslaught of young talent.

The first 45 minutes came to a close and City became a lot more confident and played to the conditions of the pitch. High, cross-field balls that avoided the poor playing surface were a necessity.

This improvised style of attacking saw The Grecians win a dangerous free kick 25 yards from goal. The ball was fizzed into the penalty area and a tussle ensued to get to it first. Exeter striker Jack Sparkes was first to rise up to the challenge, but he headed over the crossbar from six yards.

The second half started in the same stalemate as the first finished. Possession was sloppy and much of what action there was stayed in the centre of the field.

After no real threat from either side, the game’s second shot on goal came midway through the half. This time it was lively Lawrence with the chance to put City in the lead, but his weak effort proved to be easy pickings for Kenny Griffiths in the Bucks’ goal.

Exeter City drew first blood. Joel Randall picked up the ball on the edge of the box with his pace too much for Griffiths. The midfielder ran rings around him and calmly struck into the middle of the goal.

Celebrations did not last long for City as Buckland hit the equaliser shortly afterwards. A darting run down the left wing from skipper Lloyd Gardner was followed by an inch-perfect cross that found the head of Ryan Bush who placed the ball out of the keeper’s reach into the bottom-right corner.

The remainder of the game played out in the same style as it began. Passes went astray and frustrated fans made their disappointment abundantly clear.

With just minutes left of the match Sparkes, who has first team experience, found space in front of the Buckland defence and fired an audacious strike from 20 yards. The ball ricocheted off the crossbar and rocketed into the sky, resulting in a goal kick. The Buckland shot-stopper could do nothing but watch.

Cup rules mean that if the score is tied after 90 minutes, the match is decided on a penalty shootout with no extra time preceding it, quite unusual in football.

The shootout began with a sublime strike from Buckland’s Chris McPhee, which nestled itself in the top-left corner. Both sides scored their first four penalties and so it became sudden death.

Already with an assist to his name, Gardner shot wide for the Bucks. Substitute Louis Morison put the ball wide for City in almost identical fashion.

Next it was the turn of former Torquay United defender Chris Todd, who did not seem too confident in himself. Todd hammered the ball over the crossbar and in to the trees behind.

City sent forward captain Alex Hartridge to seal the victory for the professional club. His strike was saved by Griffiths, to the joy of the supporters who had gathered around the goal.

Full-back Jordan Ewing stepped up to the plate for Buckland and he put it towards the far left of the goal. His effort was kept out by Felix Norman with a spectacular diving save, tipping the ball past the post.

Joe Belston took up the gauntlet for Exeter and he launched the ball in to the bottom-right corner to send The Grecians in to the semi-finals.

Buckland Athletic manager Richard Pears said afterwards: ‘We’ve done ourselves proud. We’ve certainly got some really good fitness out of it.’

He added: ‘I came with no expectation of tonight. It was about making sure as a club we enjoyed it and we represented ourselves really well and professionally, which I thought we did.’

Buckland have 13 league games left and are still in contention for the Les Phillips Cup. The Homers Heath faithful will be optimistic about their chances of silverware this season after such a gladiatorial performance from their team. They travel to Bitton on Saturday for a league tie (3pm).