Thame United 1, Chinnor 0

2/2/08 League

Saturday’s game (2^nd Feb.), played at Wallingford was an entertaining hard fought match, in which Thame narrowly defeated their near neighbours. It was the first ever time the teams have met in a league match, although Thame ran out 3-1 winners in a cup game played last season.

The game started brightly and Chinnor went close after 5 minutes when Stuart Braun played a good ball to Gary Marshall who’s hurried whose shot was high. Thame countered and, after 20 minutes, James Bloomfield was unlucky to see his 20 yard shot go just wide. There were good chances at both ends, but defences coped well and the teams went in for the break with neither goalkeeper seriously tested.

The second half was a different story. Thame came out from the break fired up, and controlled the first 25 minutes of the half. Chinnor goalkeeper, Lee Orwney was forced to make some good saves, notably from Matt Leach and Ben Connelly. The Thame pressure paid off in the 70^th minute when a through ball found Thame’s Adam Rhodes bearing down of goal. Orwney came to meet the threat and was judged to have fouled Rhodes just inside the area. The referee immediately pointed to the penalty spot. Rhodes buried the spot kick and Thame took the lead.

Chinnor fought back and Thame keeper Paul Searl was busy for a while, making one particularly memorable save, whist a few minutes later a Thame defender headed off the goal line. The home side could however have gone two up when Sam Cowan hit a goal bound volley following a corner, but Orwney made a fine save. The last few minutes were frantic but Thame held out and just about deserved their win.

Thame’s man of the match was Sam Cowan but there were several other good performances notably from Luke Ricketts who, despite very physical marking, kept a regular supply of crosses coming in from the left.

Thame United: Searl, Thompson, Ansell, Higgs, Hocking (Watkins), Cowan, Connelly, Rhodes, Blomfield (Miah),