A five-star debut performance from Buckland Athletic’s Natasha Knapman saw the National League side make it through to the semi-final of the Devon Women’s Senior Cup despite determined opposition from a well-drilled and fired up Torquay United.
The experienced Teignbridge side were always going to be firm favourites to make it through but any ideas they might have had about having an easy ride through will have been quoshed just seven minutes in when skipper Daisy Self fired Torquay in front.
The equaliser came after 20 minutes when Sarah Louise Stacey’s flick was finished neatly into the bottom left by Knapman, a taster of what was to come from the Buckland goalscorer. Five minutes later, Buckland took the lead with another cool finish from Knapman.
The Buckland celebrations had barely died down when lively Torquay striker Ellie Bishop broke free on the left and took aim at goal. Bond could only parry the shot into the path of Danni Wyatt who made no mistake.
A third goal in as many minutes saw Buckland retake the lead, Megan Wood’s left-sided cross headed past Alina Wright as Knapman wrapped up a first-half hat-trick.
After that flurry of activity, the game calmed down and Torquay found themselves still very much in the game as the half-time whistle blew.
If Torquay had started the first half on the front foot it was Buckland determined to press home their advantage as the second half got under way. When Alex Sheppard nodded home a corner just two minutes after the restart, the game finally began to slip away from the hosts.
Regardless, Torquay’s youthful side, packed with teenagers, kept battling for every ball, forcing to Buckland to raise their game – which they did. Four became five on the hour mark when the industrious Sarah Smith put in a cross which Knapman tapped home.
Then, two minutes from time, Knapman completed her afternoon’s work with another header, this time from a corner. The icing on the cake came in stoppage time as Zoe Cunningham picked up the ball from just inside her own half and dribbled her way to the edge of box before beating the goalkeeper for a final scoreline of 7-2. Buckland will play Knapman’s former club Plymouth Argyle in the semi-final.
There was extra intrigue surrounding the match with Grant Fisher now in charge of Torquay after having formed the women’s and girls’ club at Buckland and then taken the women’s team into the National League, winning several titles and trophies along the way.
“I’ve never been in this situation before,” said Buckland manager Jamie Phillip. “It’s been an absolute mind battle, for our girls especially with the situation of him being ex-manager, so I felt like they were one up already at the start of the game – and then they did go one up.
“I think that helped fire us up a little bit throughout the game. So it was a strange one but it’s been a good ride and I think they’ve got what they need to push on now.”
Phillip praised Torquay for their performance. “They did shock me a bit. They had some great energy and they’ve got some great players as well. The energy didn’t stop throughout the whole 90 minutes which was good from them. They did well. They should be proud of themselves today.”
Despite having had Natasha Knapman on their books all season, this was her first competitive game for Buckland and the former Argyle, Exeter and Yeovil forward wasted no time in making an impression. “That’s a great start for her and hopefully many more to come if she can keep injury free,” said Phillip who would not be drawn on whether his side would be looking for promotion next season.
“We’ve got to finish this season first, regroup and look at what we want to achieve and what we can achieve and be realistic within the squad,” he said. “We all want to win games. All the girls are great, they want to win every time they play. That’s all I’m going to say at the moment.”
“The start of the game was the one I wanted,” said Grant Fisher. “I think the first half in general was positive and we battled and kept it a real close contest. The thing I always get into my teams is that we never give up and that will live with me wherever I am.”
Fisher was also keen to point out the gulf in experience between the two sides. “At one point, we had seven under-18s on the pitch and that is against a well established side,” he said. “This game was never going to define us as a football club or a team. It’s really early on in the journey so we’re impressed with how we competed for long periods of the game. It was always going to take its toll towards the end.
“The objective is to elevate ourselves to National League level. It’s going to be a tough and long journey, we know that. It’s a big opportunity for us. At the moment we are the poor relation in Devon. Torquay United needs a team in the National League and my number one job is to win the league and take this club to the next level.”
Fisher achieved exactly that with Buckland and spoke with fondness about his time at the club.
“There will always be a lot of love for those players because we went on such an incredible journey and we built it from nothing,” he said. Time will tell if he can repeat the feat with Torquay.