A spate of injuries, a red card and a defeat would usually be enough to knock the wind out of anyone’s sails, but Buckingham FC are looking to take the positives from Saturday’s game away at Royston Town.
Last night, the U23s had a fixture against MK Irish reserves. Rory Williams used it as a chance to scout some of the players coming through their junior pathway, much like Ollie Atkinson did. Unsurprising given the shortage of starters they have.
“It’s funny”, Rory said as we watched the game, talking about the highs and lows of lower league football, “You can go from a nice, easy 3-0 win, to all of a sudden, this.
“People will say we should have won against Letchworth, and we should have won on the weekend, but that’s football, that’s why it’s interesting.”
The game started off in the balance. Both sides had chances to grab the game by the horns, but it was Royston who took their chance first.
But it was in and around these goals where the problems for Buckingham really lay. Shortly after the first, Ed Odley, Buckingham’s central midfielder went in for a 50/50 and was knocked out in the process.
“So, we’re 1-0 down, just lost a quality starter in Ed, who went to hospital and was concussed. But also realised the ref had sent him off for his challenge, so we’re now down to ten men.”
The second came just before half time, a superb free kick, whipped into the top corner by Jack Davis, Royston had doubled their lead.
“A piece of genuine quality, it wouldn’t have made a difference how many players we had on the pitch for that one”.
When Louie Howarth went down in the second half with a cut above his eye, it looked as though the stars were aligned against Buckingham. Despite all the trials and tribulations, Buckingham are still looking to take the positives out from the game regardless of the injuries and a defeat.
The Dangers of Lower League football
With two more injuries during the week, on top of the two during the game, Rory spoke about the challenges of filling out a side capable of competing week in week out, “it’s difficult, you get to Friday and you’re not sure what the side is going to be. As a manager you always want your best players to be fit but its not always the case.
“Coming off the back of so many injuries and a defeat, it’s easy for it consumer your life, but you have to let it go and focus on the things you can control.
“Most of the lads are labourers, so they’re doing pretty hard work and injuries can happen anytime. It’s the nature of the beast given we don’t pay at this level.”
Rory Williams is no stranger to an injury on the football pitch. He’s torn his ACL twice, putting an end to his playing career. He said: “I would love to be out there. Scoring a goal is a great feeling but I love managing, being in a position where you can create a community and make a difference to a lot of people is something that I love and it’s why I love the position I’m in.”
Ricci Wigg, a stalwart of Buckingham’s first team over the last few seasons, broke his leg during a Sunday league game a few months back and had to miss months off work. A gofundme page was created to help him financially during his recovery.
Ricci was back playing on Saturday and Rory spoke about how some players retire from football to avoid jeopardising their work career, “If I was Ricci, its definitely something I would think about, but I know the type of person he is and how much he loves the game. But that’s the danger of playing football.”
