WESTERN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Wellington AFC 0, Buckland Athletic 1

BUCKLAND Athletic unwrapped three points on Boxing Day when they travelled to Wellington AFC in the Western Football League.

Myles James scored the only goal of the game, a rare strike from the defender, sealing an 11th win of the campaign for Dan Hart’s side. The centre-half collected the ball on the edge of the area, looked up, struck and nestled his effort into the corner of the net past the keeper in the words of Buckland’s Twitter page, Teigan Rosenquest providing the assist in the fog.

Four defeats on the spin against Barnstaple Town, Portishead Town, Oldland Abbotonians and Paulton Rovers put a sizable dent in the Bucks’ title ambitions so to get back on track in the final game of 2024 will have been a huge positive for Hart and co.

Victories in their two games in hand on Shepton Mallet and Street FC would move Buckland up to fifth and league leaders Portishead are only 11 points ahead of them currently, so all is still to play for.

2025 begins with a home game on New Years’ Day, 17th-placed Ilfracombe Town making the trip to Homers Heath in what is a fixture that Buckland should certainly be stamping their authority on.

Ivybridge Town, Shepton Mallet and St Blazey will also arrive in Newton Abbot throughout the month of January with the only away game being at Nailsea & Tickenham on Saturday 11.