Buxton notched up their first win of the season in emphatic style at home to Blyth Spartans (Saturday August 26). A brace of goals from Sam Osborne (Pictured) either side of a strike by Jake Wright entertained the enthusiastic Tarmac Silverlands crowd and made up for some near misses in previous games this season. The 3-0 victory owed much to the Bucks' desire to push forward at every opportunity but they had to work hard against an enterprising Blyth.
Sam Osborne earned the Vanarama National League North's man-of-the-match nomination, while this was Jake Wright's full debut.
Team manager Craig Elliott said they'd been unlucky in certain earlier games but it had been a good week's training and they were ready for this match. "Blyth are a terrific team," he said, "but things settled down for us and it was a positive performance.
"It was a really good victory. Jake is one of the best players in the league and Sam's stats show how good he is. All the lads really stuck together and I'm proud of them. It makes a difference starting to get players back from injury. The quick turnaround for Monday will be tricky and we hope we don't pick up any more injuries. We'll be well prepared, however."
Meetings between Buxton and Blyth date back to 2008 when a single goal gave the Spartans an FA Cup success at the Tarmac Silverlands. Results have been quite even since then: this 3-0 scoreline was comforting after last year's match in which Blyth took the points with two stoppage-time goals.
The Bucks face a Bank Holiday Monday trip to Banbury, then another home game, on Saturday against Darlington, kick-off 3pm.