Premier Division

Liskeard Ath 1

Buckland Ath 3

THE 'chicken and egg' situation continues at Lux Park – where Leigh Cooper and Tony Richardson are constantly attempting to add quality players to a struggling side.

The problem is that those type of players are thinking twice about joining a side who are one place off the foot of the table and without a win in their last nine games.

Manager Cooper has fully admitted that he needs a couple of wins to move his side up the table and make them a more attractive proposition – but how does he achieve those wins without more quality in the side? His task will not be helped after this latest defeat, which saw his side finish with just nine players on the pitch.

This will obviously lead to more suspensions as the season reaches one of its' most important stages.

Assistant-boss Tony Richardson tried his hardest to take some positives out of their latest defeat.

'Even when down to nine men the players who were left on the park gave everything they had, and Leigh and myself could not fault their second-half display,' he explained.

Richardson was spot on that his players improved after the break but the damage had been done in the first half as high-riding Buckland established a two-goal cushion.

Even then it was the Blues who had the first scoring opportunity when Mike Norman raced clear to slip the ball past the advancing Neil Montandon, only to see it hit the inside of the post and roll along the goal-line before the visitors' defence scrambled it clear.

Buckland hit back to take a 15th minute lead when a good interchange of passes between right-back Liam Drew and striker Matt Beer saw the latter's cross falling to Danny Gaze on the edge of the area, and he sent a sweetly struck drive past Blue's goalkeeper Ian Baker.

Worse was to come as the Bucks doubled their advantage ten minutes before the break.

Another fine move down the right-hand channel saw Gavin Hammon beat three defenders before squaring the ball into the path of Tom Sercombe, who tapped it home from five yards.

Liskeard emerged for the second half in a much more positive frame of mind, pulling a goal back after just five minutes.

Jason King's free-kick, from out wide on the right, saw Sam Chitty's challenge on Montandon distract the Bucks 'keeper enough for the ball to fly into the far corner of the net.

Liskeard were well in the game at this stage, pushing Buckland back on the defensive. But once again they shot themselves in the foot by going a man down when Bradley Richardson was sent off for retaliation.

Liskeard continued to battle but were caught out again 20 minutes from time as Gaze broke down the left and beat a defender before rifling the ball across for Hammon to apply the finish from six yards.

If a 3-1 deficit was not enough then Liskeard could have done without Chitty's response to the goal which left them facing the final quarter of the game with just nine men.

But, to their credit, the remaining players worked their socks off to prevent Buckland running away with the game – although their efforts were not enough to bring any other reward than pride.