Luke Turner gives his thoughts on Will Buckley’s performance…
In Saturday’s 3-0 win over play off rivals Ipswich Town, Blues fans were given a proper look at recent loan signing Will Buckley and the winger didn’t disappoint.
Gary Rowett handed Buckley his first start since the start of October (against Blues) when he was on loan at Leeds following Jacques Maghoma`s illness.
Therefore I didn’t expect him to be up to full match fitness and I certainly didn’t expect him to produce that kind of performance as he did on Saturday.
He was confident, dynamic, hardworking and very positive in all aspects of his game.
Buckley caused problems throughout the 80 minutes he was on the pitch for against Ipswich`s left back Jonas Knudsen and I am sure he was glad to see the back him when Gary Rowett brought him off.
However, the fact that Rowett replaced him with Viv Solomon-Otabor still didn’t give the full back any rest bite.
I was particularly impressed with the way Buckley was willing to run at defenders and get into attacking positions.
His intentions were clear early on when he jinked inside, around a couple of Ipswich players, only to drag a left footed shot wide of the post.
The relationship between Buckley and Caddis was also a positive sign. Will knew when to leave space for Caddis and vice versa.
Buckley even managed to grab himself a goal, the first of Blues` three. It wasn’t the prettiest goal but he had to be there at the right place, right time to finish it after a couple of ricochets.
This would’ve given him a huge confidence boost to continue attacking whilst working hard defensively for the team.
I know Rowett is keen to hold onto Buckley for longer than his initial one-month loan and I definitely would be as well.
With David Cotterill still having his injury problems, it is good that another player can come in and do a good job for the team.
When up to full match fitness, who knows how well he can do and if he can keep producing the goods.
Blues fans, how impressed were you with Will Buckley`s performance? Would you like to see him extend his stay at St Andrews? Comment below!