Spartan South Midlands League Division One Colney Heath 0 Buckingham Athletic 2 COLNEY Heath slipped up at home to Buckingham Athletic on Saturday but the chasing pack failed to capitalise and the Magpies retained their 14-point lead at the top of Sparta

Spartan South Midlands League Division One Colney Heath 0 Buckingham Athletic 2 COLNEY Heath slipped up at home to Buckingham Athletic on Saturday but the chasing pack failed to capitalise and the Magpies retained their 14-point lead at the top of Spartan South Midlands Division One. Craig Johnstone's champions elect dominated the opening 15 minutes but lacked a cutting edge and were made to pay when David Sparks scored after a breakaway from a Colney Heath corner. It was a bad goal to concede. Johnstone said: "From our own corner the ball was cleared and they were one-on-one. Lee Rickard was then fouled but nothing was given and they finished it well." The Magpies came close to an equaliser before half time when Dave Hewing crossed and Martin Standen drilled in a fine low shot which was well saved. The visiting goalkeeper enhanced his reputation in the second half with more good stops as Colney Heath stepped up the pressure. Standen was denied again and Dean Parrett also had a good shot saved. The game became scrappy and, from another Colney Heath corner, Buckingham broke down the field and scored the crucial second goal. Johnstone was not impressed. He said: "The striker has executed a clever little trick to get away from Anthony Muthasamy as he went to block it. There was a foul but that is football. This killed the game and although we went to 3-4-3 we could not get back into the game. They came with a game plan and we couldn't compete with that." The Magpies struggled to get their attacking game going during the game but they have shown free-scoring form this season and the manager has faith in his attack. Johnstone said: "Micky Hemmingway, Andy Sissons, Dean Shuttleworth, Dave Hewing and Martin Standen are all good players. On their day they can tear any team apart. For us the Buckingham game was just a bad day at the office." Colney Heath now go to top five outfit Sun Postal Sports on Saturday and Johnstone is confident his team will get back on track. He said: "We will go to Sun Sports in a better frame of mind and we have won all our games away so far. We are doing our best to keep the league interesting but the others keep on losing.