BUCKLAND Athletic entered their Boxing Day game against Ivybridge Town without a win in five in all competitions but you wouldn’t have known that based on their lightning-fast start to the fixture.

The hosts went flying out of the blocks at The VX3 Stadium and were ahead after just six minutes, Ryan Bush converting from the penalty spot.

This was the first of two controversial refereeing decisions made in the first half with Ivybridge goalkeeper Jason Peters adjudged to have fouled Bush in the area before he reached the ball.

In the words of Ivies manager Ben Washam, “The game was decided by two absolute howlers of decisions”, his opposite number Matt Cusack admitting that “The penalties both looked a little fortuitous from my angle.”

Bush then struck the post minutes later before centre-half Scott Pocock had an effort cleared off of the line against his former club.

Ivybridge could easily have folded here after this early pressure but instead, they came firing back with their own attacking prowess.

Kaycee Ogwu was perhaps too honest when his heels were audibly clipped by Rafael Beadman in the area and Josh Johnson and Jadore Lawson were linking up really well in the final third.

They just lacked that finishing touch, a sentiment echoed by Washam: “We had some great chances, misses being the theme of the day.”

The man of the moment in yellow Bush looked certain to double the lead, Jack Baxter playing him through superbly and the Buckland forward rounding Peters, only for Lawson to make a heroic last-ditch clearance.

A second penalty of the afternoon followed with the officials at the heart of fierce debate once more. The linesman flagged for an Ivybridge goal-kick which looked to be the correct decision but the referee overruled him and gave a corner. From that corner, the referee pointed to the spot after a handball.

Bush beat Peters for a second time to take his tally to 26 goals in all competitions, 17 in the league (as per the full-time Western League website), numbers which Cusack described as “incredible” for this stage of the season.

Frustrations were now rising for everyone in attendance as the ref continued to explain, in thorough detail, every decision he was making, regularly slowing down the game.

Just before the break, Ivybridge captain Sam Hillson fired over from close range to give Buckland a big let off and Kai Burrell pounced on a spillage from Andrew Sowden-Bird only for Beadman to reach the ball before it crossed the line.

The away side could and should have scored in the first half and there should have been more goals at the other end too.

Buckland started the second half with bucketloads of energy too as Baxter slid in Luke Forward who squandered a good chance from an ideal angle.

That intensity wasn’t going to last the full 90 minutes though and in truth, the last half hour or so passed by with little to no incident.

Phil Mendonca looked lively upon his return from suspension, regularly driving to the byline but unable to then pick out a teammate with his low crosses.

Ivybridge meanwhile continued to push and in Washam’s words: “If we’d got one goal, who knows what would have happened.

“There was only one team running at the end there and that’s us, we looked a lot fitter than them.”

On the other hand, Cusack was impressed with the contributions from his substitutes. “It was great to have Phil back… Toby Hard applied himself really well when he came on and Coby White will find himself playing more often than not based on his 20-minute cameo.”

He continued, “Any Boxing Day victory is good because league positions go out of the window, it’s a derby and I thought that we were worthy of the victory, I’m glad that we got the victory with the clean sheet which is something we’ve been missing of late so delighted with that.”

Washam reflected, “We can’t take anything away from Buckland, they’ve got the job done but I think the referee has given them a helping hand.

“We’ll learn from this and move on, we’re a team that believes in our project and we have some more really big games ahead.”

This result leaves Buckland a point outside of the playoff spots in sixth whilst Ivybridge are in 13th.

The Bucks are back at Homers Heath this weekend with AFC St. Austell visiting them on Saturday, January 3, whereas Ivybridge head south of the border to face Newquay AFC.